“Mom can I ask you something?” It’s my 12 year-old son, asking in the way only a pre-teen can, with that mixture of fear, vulnerability and flip confidence.
“You know how you say I can ask about any word and you’ll tell me the truth?”
“Uh-huh,” I answer, and wonder what smutty, nasty, or otherwise inappropriate word or phrase was coming. Some newly coined teen slang I never heard and probably did not want to add to our family lexicon?
“What does `spaz’ mean?”
Spaz? As in spastic? As in clumsy, awkward, two-left feet spastic? Which, even I must admit, sort of describes my otherwise fabulous son. Hmmm. Do I explain? Dare I risk damaging the shaky self-image every pre-teen inhabits?
“You know, like when someone says, `you’re spazzing me out,’” he adds.
Oh.
“It means you’re driving me crazy, or you’re cracking me up.”
“Oh. I get it,” he smiles. Well, thanks Mom. Goodnight.”
Good night and good luck to you too, moms and dads everywhere.
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1 comment:
Squeaked by on that one. You never know what they're going to ask next. They're at such a scary age.
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