Sunday Reflections 8/12/2012

This week I had a special treat.  One of my old college roommates, Kirsten (in aqua below), lives 5 minutes from me.  We sometimes get together to workout.  Another of my college roommates, Renae (in navy below), parent's live here and she came to visit them for the weekend because they just got home from a mission for our church.  So Kirsten, Renae and I decided it would be fun to invite the whole crew down to get together.  Rachel (in purple below) was able to come.  While Teresa, the only one missing, was not.  It was fun for the four of us to get together.  It was the first time in 8+ years that I had seen either Rachel or Renae. 

Between the four of us we could claim:  149 years of age, 258" in height (I'm guessing), an unknown and never revealed number of pounds (although I will say that they all look FABULOUS), 28+ years spent in college, 61 years of marriage (I think) and 16 children.  Though older and wiser, these girls seemed just the same as the young girls I knew in college.  I guess the spirit is always young. 

Sometime this last week Brad, Jordan and I were sitting in the swing enjoying a cool summer's evening when the following conversation took place between Jordan and I. 

Jordan:  Mom, when it snows this winter I want to make a snowman horror house.

Me :  A snowman whore house???!!?? (said with a confused and dumbfounded expression on my face)

Jordan:  Ya, a snowman horror house.

Me:  a WHORE house? (said with unbelieving note that my boy would ever suggest such a thing to his mother)

Jordan:  Yes. (said with a "I don't know what the big deal is Mom" look)

Me:  Jordan, do you know what a whore house is???!!!??? (said while Brad, whose knowledge of Calvin and Hobbes is far and wide while mine is fairly limited (you'll understand the point of this in a second) is cracking up in the background and I am giving him a dirty look because this is NOT funny in any way and he, as the father, should be just as upset as I am.)

Jordan:  Ya.  You see I'm going to build a bunch of snowmen.  And you see, I'm going to put sticks in them right here (he points to an area close to his stomach and my eyes get wider) and some of them will have their head cut off and some will be cut in two....

Me:  (notably relieved)  Oh.  You mean a horr-OR house.

Jordan (with a confused look on his face):  Yes, a horror house, what did you think I meant?

Me:  Never mind.

For the source from which spawned Jordan's desire to build a snowman horror house see below:


Yes, Calvin and Hobbes.  Brad owns 5 or 6 comic books of Calvin which the children have been reading and enjoying on a daily basis.

I guess I can even draw a moral from this story for all of us parents out there.  Read what your kids read (and watch what they watch for that matter) and you'll have a better understanding of what exactly it is that is going on in their little mind...leading to better communication between them and you.  I know that Jordan would have been horrified if he even suspected what I had thought he intended when he spoke of making the "snowman house of horror".  I can hear the exasperated, almost angry, "MOM!" even now.  I'm glad I was slow to anger and didn't reveal too much that day.