I was recently sent the following anecdote by frequent L&TM5K commenter jennifer, and it immediately struck me as the second best story to emerge from the Minnesota International Airport restrooms in recent memory. Since jennifer has no blog of her own -- for which we are all the poorer -- it fell to me to pass the vignette on to the wider community.
So, I'm in the restroom in Minneapolis, where I changed planes, and a woman and a small boy are having a conversation in one of the stalls. She has just been through the lengthy negotiations that are sometimes involved in getting a small child to use an unfamiliar toilet.
"But what are you doing, Mommy?"
"I'm peeing," she said in a terse voice that would have signalled to an older, wiser human being that this was not a conversation she wanted to continue.
"But why are you bleeding, Mommy?"
Having been through this with my own kid, I was dying to find out what answer she gave. Disappointingly, there followed about thirty seconds of fierce, and I do mean fierce, whispering, and then she suddenly switched back to her normal Mommy voice.
"And what did you learn in Sunday School this morning, Jason?"
"But what are you doing, Mommy?"
"I'm peeing," she said in a terse voice that would have signalled to an older, wiser human being that this was not a conversation she wanted to continue.
"But why are you bleeding, Mommy?"
Having been through this with my own kid, I was dying to find out what answer she gave. Disappointingly, there followed about thirty seconds of fierce, and I do mean fierce, whispering, and then she suddenly switched back to her normal Mommy voice.
"And what did you learn in Sunday School this morning, Jason?"
Reason number 9,978 why not to have a boy baby (Why I assumed that a girl would not ask the same question - I don't know). Or is that a reason why not to travel without a helper...
ReplyDeleteBTW I'm the one who sent you the Ruth .pdf from my work e-mail... (Sometimes that is just easier.)
My most embarassing "Children in a Public Restroom Story":
ReplyDeleteWhen my daughter was a toddler, we had a silly little game where we would blow a puff of air into each other's face, and of course giggle uncontrollably.
At a rest stop, on one inter-state trip or another, I took my little girl into a Men's Room stall so she could go potty...
What the other restroom users heard was, "I blow you, Daddy!"
We left the state as quickly as possible...
The second best story from there? Oh my!
ReplyDeleteI love the inquisitive nature, but then I am an aunt only and do not get such interrogations often.
oh no, cartophiliac! LOL!
ReplyDeleteMy mom and I used to play the same game, but I guess we never had words for it.
Oh, this cracks me up.