Big Girl Panties

At least twice in the past three days, I've read references to putting on one's "big
girl panties." Its kind of funny, really. The first time I read it was in a novel,
and I first pictured the heroine putting on a pair of granny panties (in lieu of a
thong?). Or that she'd grown by half a dozen sizes and was suddenly a "big" girl.
Then I realized that she was thinking it was time to grow up a bit.

The second instance was similar. It was from someone who is also a mother, who was
annoyed that a kid's school activities prevented her from participating in some
activity of her own. By putting on her big girl pants, she was letting go of the
selfishness and embracing the responsibility and sacrifice of motherhood.

One would think that, as the mom of a potty-training toddler, that I would have
leapt to the correct conclusion a little sooner. Alas, no. Maybe because my
toddler isn't yet wearing "big kid pants" (he's a boy, so I kind of hope he'll never
need big "girl" panties). Or maybe I missed it because when my daughter switched
from pull-up diapers to "big girl panties", then she started wetting through two to
three outfits a day in her stubborn refusal to use the potty. I guess, to me,
switching to panties is more like jumping without a parachute than a rite of
passage.

Every now and then phrases like this strike me as hilarious. Slightly overused, but
hilarious. At work the other day, we had a "stand-down" meeting. I still don't
quite get that one. I've been to stand-up meetings, so named because they're
supposed to be so quick that everyone could just stand for them. And sit-down
meetings where everyone comes prepared for a discussion. But I still don't know
what I was supposed to do during that stand-down. I certainly didn't stand. And I
won't even get started on how many times I hear the phrase "bird-dogging" a problem.
Ahem.

But back to the panty issue. As far as my writing goes, I'm more of a pull-ups kind
of gal, rather than a panty person. I'm too much of a scairdy cat to really "get
out there". I need to. I need to do a lot of things. I need to buckle down and
revise my paranormal. I need to do a bit of querying. Or, I need to enter more
contests (though querying is a tad cheaper).... But like my 2 year old, I'm
sticking to the old fall-back plan. I keep hiding behind my (paying) career, and my
family as excuse not to try harder at the writing (and submitting). It makes it
easy to deal with lack of progress (I'm too busy to put in that kind of effort) and
rejection (I don't give enough people the opportunity to do so).