These are the thoughts of a Texas transplant in West Michigan who makes his living as a newspaper reporter by evening, and a struggling novelist by day.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

from the mouths of babes

i received a phone call from my mom wednesday night. i didn't answer it because i was on the other line. but she left a message. i thought it was a return call from when i called my parents earlier in the day.

wel, it was not simply a call to say hello. she left me a message in reply to what i left on their answering machine. sort of, anyway.

when i called in the afternoon, i was in my usual high after an expectations meeting. i came home, checked out some online stuff, including how texas fared off in the election, then called them after i saw that republicans maintained (garnered enough votes!!) to stay afloat in texas.

so i called and left a rambling message that encapsulated texas results, michigan results and the country's results. i let out a few choice words during the message that included words like bastard and son of a bitch. i figured my folks would get a kick out of the message since they voted for dems.

well, as it turned out, my folks weren't the only ones to hear the message, as my mom pointed out during her voice mail to me. my niece, lorena, who's a third-grader, was in the room while they played back my message.

according to my mom, my niece was at first shocked to hear the word son of a bitch coming out of my mouth, then she asked to hear themessage again after the shock wore off.

i called my mom later and the first words out of my mouth were, "those sons of bitches."

so my mom laughed and said my niece not only giggled after accepting her sweet little uncle said the word, she said, "he said son of a bitch."

now, i don't tolerate kids cursing. at all. however, since she doesn't use curse words, i found it funny. although, i am still unsure how her mom and dad feel about it.

when i left the message, i never even thought my niece or nephew would be around to hear it. i mean, it was probably a 30-second message. so the chances of him or her listening to it were slim. but slim means there's a chance.

hmmm...luckily i didn't use heavier language. in my head i was thinking of using the f word. good thing i used good judgment in refraining. heh.