What our words say about us

Apparently, sometime in the wee hours of yesterday morning, some avian creature met its demise in my backyard. Not that I’d know, of course; my personal knowledge come strictly from the news conveyed to me from my aghast and wide-eyed sons. Sam came running to the door to give me all the gory details – “No body, but feathers all over! And some patches of blood!” – and to try to get me to COME SEE. You know, as though we’d never met, and he had no clue that the only bird that freaks me out more than a live one is a messily dead one. Mmmm, no. This wasn’t a sight I needed to take in.

So we were in the car later, and Gabe started chattering about it. “And I think you need to have a body to have a real funeral, right, Mom?”

“Well, not necessarily. What if somebody drowned, and they couldn’t find the body? Their family could still have a funeral to say goodbye.”

“Okay, but Sam and [neighborhood friend] said ‘rest in peace.’ I don’t think that bird could rest in peace if it’s gone.”

I muttered, apparently not quietly enough, “It’s resting in pieces…”

Sam: “MOM! That’s awful! It was just a poor defenseless bird!”

Gabe, without a pause, replied, “You don’t know it was defenseless. Maybe it just lost!”

I swam today! Been waiting on my shoulder to heal properly enough to allow me to swim for a long time, and now I can do a breaststroke without more than occasional small twinges when I lose form! Still can’t do a crawl without pain, but I’m just happy to be back in the water. It brightened my whole morning.

Eric’s medical prep peaks tonight. I don’t intend to get into details, except to say that we both snorted when we read the section of the instructions that referred to me as Eric’s “responsible adult.” So, anyway, keep him in your (vague) thoughts for tonight and tomorrow. Poor guy.