Heard of a MIG?

Jeremy and I have a long-running inside joke that has become a very normal part of our outings together. It never gets old and it always applies. It also keeps us quite discreet as we enjoy our own little laughs together.

Here is the story:

Around the time the movie Men in Black (MIB) was popular, Jeremy and I were walking through the mall when we saw this very odd sight. There was a man walking towards us, in the mall, with sunglasses on and he was wearing an all-gray suit. He was walking very stiff and quick with his hands down to his sides. We had our own little laugh because what the heck?? We talked about the oddity of it for a little while and forgot about it. We turned around at the end of the mall and started making our way back down the hall where we had just been, when we looked up and here came that SAME odd fellow! Still wearing his sunglasses, walking quickly, hands to his sides. The only explanation for him was that he was a Man In Gray (MIG) - and so it was born.

We soon found that the expression "MIG" could be applied to many different oddities because we were the only ones who really understood it. For instance, we would see some punk kid walking down the sidewalk with bright pink hair, chains, piercings up his face, and wearing his sister's skinny-legged jeans and we could just call out, "There's a MIG". Immediately we knew what to look for and could enjoy the strangeness together.

Over the years, a MIG has developed into pretty much anything super out of the ordinary that we wouldn't be caught dead in. It has become quite convenient to have coined the MIG phrase because we can share our MIGs with each other even when we are standing right next to one! It has become a game - who can get the most MIGs at the mall. Or who can call the BEST MIG on our day out together. If I'm standing next to a good one, and I don't want to call out attention, I can just say to Jeremy, "That's mine!" and he totally gets it. I get dibs on that MIG and he has to find his own. No harm done. No one really knows they were called out, and we have still enjoyed the moment.

The important thing is to not overdo it. If you call out too many MIGs, you run into the problem of everyone becoming a MIG in one way or another, because we are all different, and then it loses it's savor. No, you have to call only the BEST MIGs. There have been times when we have called MIGs in a hurry, trying to get first dibs, and when they turned around they weren't actually a MIG at all. You don't want to have to retract your MIG call. That's embarrassing.

It's really painful now when I run into a MIG, or a group of MIGs all on my own because I have no one to share it with and you just can't describe it later.

For the record, it is unfair to call out an entire group of people as MIGs when you can't see them all individually, to confirm that they are, in fact, a MIG. Jeremy will try to call out an entire store in the mall by saying, "Everyone in that store is mine", meaning, his MIGs. No, that doesn't work. It might be one of "those" stores Jeremy, but you still can't call the whole establishment.

So now you know what a MIG is! I anticipate that we have many more years of fun ahead of us with our MIGs.