(If you’re here looking for the column “as a woman, I am very humbled”, it’s right here!).
Every weekend I like to throw up a question someone sends in and let you readers have a go at it.
This week, in honour of my daughter’s 15th birthday, I’d like to ask one of my own that might be kinda fun!
On Katie’s ninth birthday we were leading a missions trip of 27 people to Kenya. We had to get to the airport, load up 60 hockey bags, and organize all of those people. And so I forgot to say Happy Birthday. I didn’t actually forget her birthday; I just forgot to say it to her until well into the afternoon, when by that time the little girl was just beside herself with sadness because everyone forgot her birthday! We had the pilot announce it on the plane, but still.
So now, every birthday, I make a point of rushing in early in the morning on her birthday and saying, “I remembered!”
So here’s your question: what have you never lived down in your family? Let us know! I’m sure it will be good for some laughs this weekend.
Sheila Wray Gregoire has been married for 25 years and happily married for 20! She loves traveling around North America with her hubby in their RV, giving her signature "Girl Talk" about sex and marriage. And she's written 8 books. About sex and marriage. See a theme here? Plus she knits. Even in line at the grocery store.
We were on a camping trip with my aunt and uncle. We were sitting.g in their trailer. I noticed a can that clearly said “planters fancy cashews” on the outside. I popped it open, grabbed one, put it in my mouth and realized my aunt was reusing the can… For dog treats. Yep, it happened 4 billion years ago and my cousin just brought it up 2 days ago!
Oh, wow. Is it wrong that I really am curious as to how they tasted? 🙂
Apparently the look on my face was worth it. lol. It was gross.
One time, I was babysitting these three kids at my home. They wanted microwave popcorn, and so I made some. A few minutes later, one of them screamed, “the popcorn is on fire!” That was 12 years ago, and they reminded me of it again a month ago. “Hey, remember the time you caught popcorn on fire in the microwave?” How could I forget! 😉
Early in our marriage, I decided to try to make homemade croissant rolls… something happened! They were hard as a rock, and my brother-in-law called them “Ellie Mae biscuits!” Every Christmas and Thanksgiving he asks did I make them. (And I truly have learned to cook and have made lots of really good things since then!)
We drive 30 miles one way to church. For most Sundays we have eaten out in the town where our church is located. I always drink a diet pepsi or two with lunch.
I’ve got 5 kids. Before we get home from eating I usually feel a strong need to use the bathroom. One time (years ago) I had to go so badly that I was urging the one driving to drive faster as we neared our home. We drove into the driveway and before we got into the garage I couldn’t wait another second and jumped out of the car and kind of “rolled” myself on the driveway.
My kids will NEVER let me forget that I jumped out of an ALMOST moving vehicle just to get to the bathroom.
When I was about 18 months old, my aunt and cousins came to visit. My mom gave me a bath before my nap, so I would be fresh and adorable the first time I met them. As mom was coming up the stairs with my aunt to get me up from my nap, she began to smell a not so nice smell. As she opened the door, it was apparent that I had pooped, and then spread the poop everywhere. The walls, my crib, my curly hair. It was in my nose, my ears… Everywhere. My older sister loves to bring it up all the time. Lucky for me that she looked like Pete Rose after a bad haircut, and I have a copy of the picture.
Oh man — this one is so easy!
I’ve never lived down the most arrogant/disrespectful thing I said to my husband. He’s a gem — never brings it up or uses it against me!
http://cherionethingivelearned.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-finest-foot-in-mouth-moment.html
One year during Thanksgiving weekend my entire family (5 siblings, parents, uncles, and grandparents) were at my Grandparent’s house and I had made some Easy Mac in bulk. I used exactly the right amount of water for 9 or 10 packets and the packets. By the time I mixed in the cheese, it ended up being cheese soup with a little bit of macaroni. I had forgotten to drain the water (which you don’t have to do with one or two packets)! That was 6 or 7 years ago and my siblings still bring it up! “Are you gonna make us some cheese soup with a little bit of macaroni today Leah?” Grr!!
My husband reminds me about 3 times a year (we have been married 24 years) that I threw away all of his baseball cards when I was cleaning out a chest soon after we were married. I did not think they were important as they were just “dumped” in the drawer, but he says they had monetary value.
When I was 19, my mom had to go to Austria to stay with her dying mother for 3 months, leaving me to cook, clean, and be taxi driver for my 2 siblings, hold down the fort for my dad, and work my own job. I was a decent cook for a 19 year old, but one night I made my mom’s baking powder biscuits, only I accidentally used baking soda. A tablespoon of baking soda is ALOT. Needless to say, the biscuits tasted horrible, and almost 20 years later, I have never lived it down.
I’ll tell you what my husband has never lived down! 🙂
We had just been married about a month, when I decided on a Saturday morning to make pancakes for us. I learned how to make pancakes from my dad, who is the pancake master. As my husband was eating the pancakes, he was raving about how good they were, and then he said “Babe, these are the best pancakes I’ve ever had – in fact, the only pancakes I’ve ever had that were better than these are my mom’s!” I set down my coffee cup, looked at him, and said “Rewind for a second, and think about what you just said.” His eyes got big and he immediately backtracked – “Oh! No, that was a compliment!” LOL Funny way to give a compliment, honey! The bright side to that is it lit a fire under me to learn how to cook, and I now out-cook my mother-in-law. 😉
We lived with my in-laws for about a year. My father-in-law had been out of work but found a job working nights. I was off work one day and decided to make mac & cheese for lunch. (the boxed kind) My father-in-law was sleeping. I put the water on to boil and put the mac in but forgot to set a timer. I then went to the den and decided to check my email real quick. (see where this is headed??)
Yes, smoke was pouring down the hallway, the alarm system (that was monitored) was blaring, and my father-in-law was definitely NOT sleeping any longer!
Now, it is a fun memory, but then not such a fun time. My husband brought it up a couple of years ago when he brought a pan of blackened rice onto the back porch where I was sitting. Fortunately the smoke wasn’t as bad and alarm systems weren’t blaring, but we did have pizza for dinner that particular day. 🙂
I Am a grade 5 teacher and every year we host a graduation ceremony for our students who are moving on to middle school. Last year we served spaghetti, and as I was serving it to one of our graduates I accidentally dumped it on to her lap and very expensive dress! We took her dress off and got it washed, but while it was drying another teacher had an extra set of clothes for her to wear. I offered to wear the 2nd set of clothes while the student wore mine, because they were more her style.
Well the shirt I had on was lime green with hot pink flowers all over it, not something I would typically wear. I ended up saying something like “I can’t believe I have not wear this horrible green shirt!” in front of its owner….I don’t know why I said it, it just came out! The entire staff has made a huge joke about it, at times all wearing lime green on the same day. Also I just had a baby and one staff member bought him a lime green hat. I doubt I will ever live that one down!
I accidentally superglued a stove knob to my fingers one night. We were out of power and I didn’t see I had touched the glue until I went to put the repaired knob down…and couldn’t. I had 5 small children at the time and was deathly afraid I’d have to have my fingers amputated. Poison control gave me directions that worked but it took a nerve wracking hour.
That and jumping out the window buck nekkid and running across the street to a neighbor thinking burglars had broken into the house and I was escaping for my life. They found out it was my cousin who lived there. I never slept in the raw again after that. And having a lady come up to me in the grocery store to sweetly tell me my dress was tucked up into my underwear. Sigh. I had walked down the sidewalk on a main street for a half mile to get there. I could go on for quite a while. There are lots of things I can’t live down, sadly.
Just remembered another one….
I got into a fight with my sister when we were kids. As any mature 12 year old would do, I made a fist and hit my sister on the head.
Later that night, I tried to convince my mom that my hand was really hurting. She told me to go finish icing the cake for the dinner at church that was to be held the following day.
The next morning, I walked into the kitchen and told my mom that my hand was now swollen. After a trip to the emergency room (it was a weekend after all) it was determined that I had broken a bone in my hand.
My sister never gets to forget that she has a hard head and I never get to forget that I got what I deserved!
My whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins, parents…everyone!!) forgot to tell me Happy Birthday one year until late in the afternoon. The previous year I had a cousin born on my birthday and so everyone was so caught up in celebrating him that they forgot it was my birthday too. I was 12 or 13 I think can remember thinking…”I was here first… Why have they forgotten about me?” My family will never live that down. It was so important to me and while I know it was important to my family, they will never be able to take it back. So glad you told your story, now I don’t feel alone. =)