A Mullet, an El Camino, and My Girls in their Stroller

Hearing the words "Business in the front, party in the back" -- usually to describe a mullet -- always just cracks me up.

Maybe it's having grown up in the south, where -- at least according to media portrayals -- there are more mullets per capita than in other areas of the country.

The phrase gained deeper meaning a few years ago, when I heard someone use it to describe an El Camino. "Business in the front" -- the "car" part of the vehicle, and "party in the back" -- the "truck" end.

See, my dad had a 1975 model El Camino, red and white, when I was growing up. It wasn't his primary vehicle (thank goodness!); I think he actually bought it for the "truck" component.

As a little kid, maybe six or seven years old, I thought it was so incredibly neat. What would now be considered child abuse, I got to ride on the arm rest console sometimes, and he'd let me sit in the back of the truck after he'd stop to get the mail occasionally, the wind blowing my hair as he drove our 1/4-mile driveway.

As I got a little older, maybe 10 or 12, the El Camino definitely lost its cool factor in my eyes. PLEASE don't let Dad show up at school with that thing!!!

And then, as I got older still, late high school and early college, the El Camino became a bit of a joke between Dad and me, akin to having an embarrassing cousin. I even found an old tag for the front of it at an antique store as a present for my pops.

When I heard the "mullet" comparison to the El Camino, I shared it with Dad with a tad bit of reservation. The El Camino had since gone on to junkyard heaven, but he found it mostly funny, rolling his eyes in a knowing way.

Fast-forward to yesterday afternoon, when I had the girls in their front-to-back stroller as we were shopping at the toy store. The sales lady was making small talk. B was smiling and giggling, while her sister didn't have much to say.

Both my girls are radiant, jubilant babies...but Baby A doesn't often give it up for random people, at least not at first. Yesterday, I'm quite sure she was focused on completing our transaction and getting home to play with the expansion set of tracks we bought for her train set.

C'mon, Mom...quit wasting time with this empty conversation! I have track to lay and trains to engineer!

The sales lady remarked, "Miss Blue Eyes is full of smiles, but it's all business in the front!"

I gave my usual response, along the lines of, "They're both full of smiles, just not always at the same time,"...but I couldn't help my mind from jumping over to a mullet comparison.

What, exactly, are you trying to say about my kiddos???