The ___ Word

Carved in a telephone pole in a corner of the school play yard, there it was--a four lettered word beginning with the letter "f". A classmate, who had pulled me to this spot, told me it was the worst word ever and never to say it. I thought about it on the way home from school on the bus; I thought about it at supper time, and, then, at bedtime while Dad read, "The Bobsie Twins."  I didn't dare bring it up to my parents. The word "darn" was not allowed at our house. They had probably never even heard of the ___ -word.

I stayed away from that corner of the playground. I didn't want to have others think I was an indecent girl because I was out there staring at the engraved ___ - word. I do remember other things, like the day a thread of my new can-can caught at the top of the metal slide, and my can-can unwound itself all the way down. I kind of walked away, head down, and pretended it wasn't mine as it flapped about in the wind--but everyone knew--my skirt had lost its bounce.... And, then, there was the time I fainted right in front of the whole class when Mrs. Hovik spoke of bloody noses. I'm not sure why she went there...

In spite of 46 years of marriage and four pretty-well-behaved children who nevertheless had their moments, I have never felt inclined to use the __ -word. Until the other day.

I blame it on Dave Barry (comedian, writer). I had checked out one of his books from the library. It was presumably funny, suspenseful--to the point of hilarity. But, after a couple of chapters I took it back as the ___-word was used generously on each page.

So, when in a stressed-out situation recently, it slipped out. I was so surprised, I wanted to go look in the mirror and ask, "Who are you?"

If you're wondering where I'm going with this, I'm not sure. I've tried to be honest, real, and open with my blogsite. And I hope you see the humor in this. Some situations are more laughable than they are dire. Thank goodness, this happened in the privacy of my home and not out in public. I read from James this morning, Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

Other "f" words, besides Papa Murphy's use of "fresh" describing their pizza, include favored, fascinating, fantastic, fabulous, and faithful. Let's think on these things.