Not Worth the Calories

How was your turkey day? Ours was perfect.  We stuffed the turkey this year, so I’m hoping Sam and Ella don’t show up in a few days (get it? Salmonella?)

I tried to do my share of the work:

Ken ate peanuts and watched football. But, to his credit he cleaned up the huge ass mess after dinner.

We all sat down for the feast. You’d think Ken would look happier since he gets to live with me AND has a new job. If it looks smoky, it is. I had some oven issues:

Emma pretending she was at the Renaissance festival and ate a turkey leg:

On to other things.

My mind is a wasteland when I run. I go from dwelling on immense problems like who should be the prime minster of Egypt to being curious about stuff like Occupy Wall Street – what the hell is it? But, most of the time I am thinking about more important subjects like where I can take an emergency dump (that bush up ahead) or how that new Cancun Fiesta nail polish color I bought will look on my toes.

Yesterday’s contemplation was  bit different. Somehow I got to thinking about the stupid, offensive or ridiculous things people say. I am of the belief that saying things to hurt people sucks and shouldn’t be done unless you are drunk and cannot be held responsible or that person you want to be mean to has hurt your mother in some way.

In all seriousness, there is rarely a time when being mean to just be mean is acceptable. Yet, sometimes people say the crappiest stuff, and I still can’t figure out why.

• Once I made pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing and took a friend of mine (who is no longer a friend of mine) a bunch of the cake. Just because I felt like it. She tasted a piece and said, “It’s okay. Not worth the calories, though.” Who says that? WHO?? A “thank you” would have sufficed.
  
• I remember once my grandmother telling me I had a fat face. That wasn’t so nice.
  
• I have had many year’s worth of trauma to my teeth (I had an accident when I was 12 and have never been the same). In my twenties, one of my front teeth had a root canal and had become discolored. It was kind of yellowish, not black or brown or anything. It didn’t really b0ther me, I guess I was just used to it. A friend of my mom’s told her, “You know Beth would be really pretty if it wasn't for that ugly tooth.” In hindsight, she definitely had a point and this did eventually prompt me to get it fixed. I think it was her bluntness that took me off guard.

Sometimes it’s not the fact that people say things (I mean, maybe I needed to address the tooth issue), but how they say them and the words they use. Word choice is everything. Tone of voice is everything.

Has anyone ever said anything so offensive, mean or blunt that it took you off guard?

SUAR