Advice Worth Repeating

It’s been said before, but the words you say in anger are the same words that are remembered long after your anger is gone.

Sorry For Your Loss

I always want to say the perfect thing when someone’s mother dies, but there are no perfect words.

It’s Actually A Remarkably Good Question

“I’m feeling off-kilter today,” L’s Mother announced yesterday. “Which now that I say that, I realize I know what that means, but not where the word comes from. What is a kilter, and what does “off-kilter” really mean?”

“Well, you see,” I answered with a chuckle. “When a Scotsman really, really likes you . . .”

To Her Credit, She Realized What She Had Just Done Even Before I Could Say “Really?”

Last night while talking with Lala we were both struggling to come up with the right term for something when she looked at me and said, “Why can’t English be more like German where you can just take two words and mash them together like some sort of . . . uberword.”

In That Case, Maybe Not

Not to be snarky about it, but I really do have parenthood to thank for the lesson that words aren’t the answer to everything.  It seems to be pretty normal for kids to go through phases (sometimes interminable one) where every word out of their mouth is a fuss or complaint, frequently with a generous dollop of melodrama on the side for good measure.  (For instance, the current drama playing out here at the moment is “Why will nobody find something for me because I don’t want to look for it myself?”)  Most kids grow out of it in time.

I think.

It all depends on if comment sections and social media are representative samples or not.

Words Aren’t The Answer To Everything

Someone asked me the other day if I cared about current events at all since I talk about them so rarely.

The simple answer to that is while I don’t care about every event some would have me care about, I care about far more than I ever talk about.

Sometimes there’s simply nothing I want to say.

Today I Experienced Both

In the spirit of made-up words like “hangry,” I’m introducing a new word into my personal vocabulary:  “Rushtrated,” the feeling of frustration born from being rushed.

Edit:  As was pointed out within minutes of me posting this, the potential applications of this word go far beyond just family outings, so I’ve deleted that part of the definition.