You wouldn't get it.

Mom and I were standing out in the lobby of the theatre near my sister's dance teacher when a woman, obviously someone elses' mom walked by wearing a somewhat garish green tank top thing.

"Home sewing project," I said, once she was out of earshot.

"What is?" mom asked.

"That lady's tank top," I replied, "It's like McCalls EasySew or something. You bought a whole bunch of those patterns in the 90s when you decided that you were going to make your own clothes for work, I'm sure of it."

"Oh, that make in an evening stuff."

"Right," I shuffled a little closer and stared right into her eyes. "And that means she picked out the fabric herself."

Mom started to giggle, which made me laugh. The dance teacher, in a conversation with someone else, had missed the exchange and asked what the joke was, to which we replied that it didn't matter, nevermind, you wouldn't understand.

And then once she had gone back to her conversation, I fixed mom another stare. "I'm tempted to slap my knee and call myself hilarious," I said, and mom burst out laughing, which made me laugh. Which in turn made the dance teacher turn and ask us to repeat the joke.

But seriously, she wouldn't get it.