Thursday, April 3, 2014

Warning Explicit Parental Screw up ahead

I messed up, messed up fairly big. It has taken me months to be willing to acknowledge it. The cost was a bit of integrity and humiliation. I can pay that. I still have lots of the first and a huge capacity for the second in me. It started as a innocent enough idea. I had seen interviews with an Author on several occassions. I liked what I had heard. Knowing my children have had little to no experience in seeing a healthy functional relationship between partners, I have for years tucked the name of his book in the back of my mind, trying to figure out the correct time and way to share it with my boys. As any parnt of a teen knows, just talking about ceertain subjects, especially during the " my parents are so stupid years", is not an option. NO amount of saying, " hold the door for a girl," " Give a girl compliments" " Ask if there is anything you can do" can replace watching it happen in real life. So I had this book idea. When #1 left for college several people asked what they could send him. I will leave out names to protect the innocent, as she was truly an innocent in this debacle, but one dear friend said they didn't want to spend $15 to send a box of $3 rammen noodle, entirely reasonable. So I said 'There's a book I've been wanting him to have, I think it's on Amazon, here's his address" And it was done... A few hours later, I had a minute to look inside the book, something I had never thought to do before. That's when I realized what my dear friends had innocently sent my son was a manual on sex, oral sex to be exact. In a panic I called her, between her laughing hysterics, we both went on to Amazon to try to stop it, Damn Amazon, so efficient.... She was also a little upset with me, I truly do not always do my homework. Which I'm sorry she should know, forgotten passports, wrong airports, I do not exactly have a reputation for attention to detail. She texted my son and said "The wrong book was sent out, please discard it". And that was that. It was not spoken of, I assumed he got the book. My friend assumes my son now sees her as a dirty old lady. and I would like to never recall the incident again. Until, Until he was home for Christmas and these two very important people in my life were going to be in the same room at the same time and she, rightfully so, insisted I confess. So I brought my son into my office, the room where all important conversations take place. And I paced, and he looked at me quizically, and I said, "I owe you an apology.... " I recounted the entire story what I had hoped( thought) the book was about, having it sent off, reading some of the book, discovering it's true intention, my embarassment. He said ' I think you are making too much of a big deal about this, My friends & I just looked at the pictures then I got rid of it." My heart stopped. There were pictures? He showed his friends? OMG... What type of reputaion does Mrs. Roche & her friends have down at JMU? If you want the name of the book, let me know...