Did I Say That?!

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By Paul Dugan, Groovy Reflections Team Member

Sometimes the things we say can be hurtful, even though we don’t intend them that way.
   
Nowadays people hit send on their email and then try to claw through the monitor to get it back, because they sent it to the wrong person, or realize too late that cussing out the boss wasn’t such a good idea!

In the old days it was like that, only it was SPOKEN words we wanted to take back.
 
Back in college I was on a couple of sports teams. I was by no means a star athlete or anything but good enough to be on the teams and that was enough for me. Problem: Sports team schedules don’t always follow the academic calendar; often times I would be stuck all alone in my dorm room, while my roommates and friends were off on a long weekend. This, unfortunately, included any possible female companionship.

One weekend I was alone when a team mate, Bill, came by and asked me if I’d double date with him. I explained the dilemma of all the young ladies I knew were gone! Bill said, no problem, he’d have his girl, Daphne fix me up with someone. Now why do those words, even now, send a chill up my spine? I said “Sure, Why not?”

So that night we went to the girl’s dorm to pick up Daphne and my “blind date”, Jane. There’s that chill again! And it wasn’t that bad; she had a great personality and was not at all unattractive. Maybe not the kind of girl I would normally date but certainly a nice girl. We had an enjoyable evening at the drive in. Not what you think! In those days you could go to a drive in and pay by the carload (lots cheaper than the movies) and we had a good time. We dropped the girls off at the end of the evening and that was that!

 Or was it?

Some months later a similar situation occurred. A different friend, Ron, offered to have his girlfriend, Jacquelyn fix me up. We arrived at the dorm to pick up Jacquelyn and my “blind date”. Gotta do something about the draft in here; feeling a chill again. I proceeded to do the gentlemanly thing by introducing myself. Then she said “Of course I know you; we met before.”

We had?! Okay, you could see this coming but I didn’t; it was of course the girl I’d gone out with months before. Jane!

Before I could stop it my mouth started talking! I said (and I am not at all proud of this), “I remember! You’re the girl I went out with the last time I couldn’t get anyone else!”

No wait! Can I have those words back, please?

Jane burst into tears and went running back upstairs. Jacquelyn shot Ron and I a very evil look and ran after Jane. Ron looked like he wanted to cause me serious pain. Me? I was trying to see if I could hide under the carpet.
   
I never got the opportunity to apologize to Jane, so if you’re reading this, please forgive me; I never meant it the way it came out. Ron never talked to me again either.
   
I guess if there’s a moral to this story it’s think before you speak or hit send. I don’t have a lot of regrets in my life but as insignificant as it may be in the grand scheme of things, this was one.

Note: Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Cookie?

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By Paul Dugan, Groovy Reflections Team Member

Many years ago a foster sister fixed me up on a blind date. Turns out the blind date had a boyfriend she suspected was cheating on her so she went out with me to make him jealous. As we come up on 42 years later I can only wonder if he’s jealous yet!

We had a whirlwind courtship, married three months later, and before you knew it, a baby boy came along. Well we decided to have two close together so they could grow up together. Then there was a missed pill or two and suddenly it was four bouncing boys with less than a year apart between each. Accidents or not we loved them all and still do and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Many times people thought we had sets of twins or even triplets as they were so close in age and looks, blue eyed towheads all. Some years later we finally had a little girl however she’s not part of this story; only mentioning her so if she reads this, I won’t have to listen to her whine that she wasn’t mentioned!

This story is about a Saturday morning when the boys were four, three, two, and one years of age. As hard working Mommies and Daddies are wont to do, we were attempting to get a little extra sleep.

The apartment was a two bedroom. The boys all slept in one room with a bunk bed, a twin bed and crib. The youngest, in the crib, wasn’t able to get out and the others took great delight in teasing and tormenting him, which of course resulted in a great deal of yelling and screaming.

Whether you’ve had children or not I’m sure you understand that yelling and screaming does not make for good sleeping conditions, so in my sternest daddy voice I yelled “Knock it off in there!” Okay, not very creative but it was early, I was sleepy, and it was the best I could do on short notice. Of course it did get quiet, for almost five minutes and it started up again, so once again I reached into the Daddy bag of clichés and said “You’d better quiet down or you’ll be sorry!”

At this point I must tell you that what I did not know at the time that all the noise was being generated by just three little boys! The oldest boy had crawled into bed beside his mother and was hidden from my view. Of course, once again peace and quiet reigned for five minutes tops and started once more at an increased volume from the previous two rounds.

Now resigned to the fact that further sleep was not an option, I rolled over, gave my wife a playful swat and said “Looks like we’re not going to get any sleep, how about a quickie?” Suddenly! A little blonde head popped up from the other side of her and said “I want a cookie too!”

Needless to say, that was the first and last time I had Oreos and milk for breakfast!