Confessions

Have y'all seen the picture of the smoking baby?  I mention it here to remind myself that other kids do bad stuff too.  I know when you looked at it you probably were appalled and then kind of laughed.  That was my reaction today.  But not to the smoking baby. 

I had a childhood friend that I shared everything with.  We played together, took dance together, vacationed together, and even got in trouble together.  We were inseparable.  As running buddies, we shared a special secret.  We cussed when we were in elementary school.  And we cussed good.  We knew how to cuss like poets.  You know, using the cuss words correctly.  There is nothing more annoying than hearing someone use a cuss word out of context.  It's just so amateur -  not us, the professtional 2nd grade cussers.  We knew just when to say the correct cuss word and when.  We were cool.  I can remember a girl coming up to us on the playground and saying, "So- I hear y'all cuss. Is that true?" She was a grade ahead of us so it was just special she was even talking to us.  We replied, " Yeah.  So?" Older cooler girl, "Ok.  Just asking.  Cool."  Then she put her cigarette out with her foot.  Naw, just kidding about the cigarette -not about the conversation.  True story.  Now, we were young so we weren't using any big league cuss words.  We were smart about it, we made sure we didn't cuss around any tattlers or teachers or parents.  Anyway, we cussed and we cussed artfully.  I guess every kid does.  Sorry Mama.  I know you tried.

Today, I got "The Call".  The one where a teacher calls to tell you that your child asked if _____ was a cuss word.  THE CUSS WORD.  You know the one.  The granddaddy of them all.  After I revived myself with smelling salts and someone performed CPR on me, I composed myself enough to ask the teacher where she *gulp* heard it from.  Apparently, it was written down (not by her) and she sounded it out.  She is great with phonetics.  Mercy me.  Parenting ain't for sissies or the faint of heart. Yes - I was appalled but then I faked a laugh and then I moved on.  Thank goodness for good teachers. And a sense of humor.  And a strong heart.  And for Lava soap.

Til Tomorrow