Tags
Almond, Amaretto, arguements, being right, catch a cold, correctors, Diana Schwenk, Disaronno, family, growing up, Hump Day Chronicles, kids, laughter, parents, Relationships, teens, virus
I come from a long line of Correctors.
(By the way,this post was inspired by 40 is the new 13 and my hasty comment here.)
Yes, I said Correctors, not Collectors – although Dad has collections of most everything.
When someone says something – anything at all, someone in my family will surely say, “Um, actually…”
A conversation I’ve had with Mom for forever is about how one actually catches a cold or flu.
Mom: You better dress warm or you’ll catch a cold.
Me: Um, actually…Mom, you catch a cold when you come into contact with the virus.
Mom: Dress warm dear!
Me: Mom! Did you hear me? You catch a cold when you come into contact with someone who has the virus!
Mom: (laughing) I heard you…dress warm you don’t want to catch a cold, do you?
As I’ve matured, it has become less important for me to be right – well most of the time. Maybe I need to let go of this 40 year discussion of catching colds. Maybe both of us are right. Maybe cold weather wreaks havoc on our immune system and then when we do come into contact with someone who has a cold, we catch it.
But then this age-old conversation, albeit with a new slant, resurfaces…
Me: Gee, I have a cold Mom.
Mom: Ha! I told you to stay away from so-and-so yesterday. I told you you would catch his cold but you didn’t want to listen, did you?
Me: Um, actually…Mom I didn’t catch his cold, it takes several days for the virus to incubate…so I didn’t catch HIS cold per se…
Mom: Yet you have a cold after spending time with him, don’t you?
Me: Mom, didn’t you hear me? It takes several days…
Mom: (interrupting) How do you know that??
Me: (rolling my eyes) Mom everyone knows that…
So why was I surprised when my own flesh-and-blood daughter became a Corrector – She can’t help it. It’s in her DNA – From the very moment she could talk she’s been correcting me!
This past Christmas Mom, Dad, Michaela and I were sitting around my parent’s diningroom table. We were playing a dice game and having a few drinks. Michaela was drinking Disaronno with Coke.
Dad: Disaronno is essentially Amaretto.
Me: No it’s not.
Michaela: Um, actually it is Mom, here taste it.
Dad: (grinning)
Me: Yuck that’s gross with Coke! But it does taste like Amaretto. You know…Amaretto is made from nuts – almonds to be exact…
Michaela: Um, actually Almonds are not nuts.
Me: Yes they are!
Michaela: Nope, they are the pit of a fruit most closely related to peaches and cherries.
Me: That’s ridiculous!
Michaela: (picks up phone, googles almonds and slides phone toward me)
Me: (puts on reading glasses and looks) Well I’ll be… how did you know that??
Michaela: (rolls eyes) Mom everyone knows that…
~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~
In spite of their need to continually correct me I love them to pieces!
My Family
- Mom and me in Puerto Plata
- Me and Michaela at Callaway Park
- with my nephew
- with my Sister-in-law
- Dad, Mom and me
- “I told you to dress warm…”
- “What…”
- Happy Birthday money
- Michaela’s grad
- Mr. Fix-It
- Mike, Spencer and Heather
- The coolest picture of my brother ever!
What conversations have you had with your family for forever?
I would be honoured if you accepted this WordPress Family Award. You have meant so much to me! Your words of love and encouragement have sustained me through horrible, grief filled times. Thank you for caring. http://tersiaburger.com/2013/05/07/nominated-for-the-wordpress-family-award/
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Your great love for your family is inspiring and I am deeply touched to be honoured by you!
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Actually,…. me too! 😀
I’ve got a very bad case of it! I’ll even go in for a correction on a guess! (Recently a friend made a comment about how one used bay leaves for spice, yet they were poisonous to actually eat. “Actually, that can’t be right…. they’re cooked in both water and oil, so any poisonous substance has to come out at least a little.” We looked it up, and, yep, it’s one of those “facts” that many people know, but which is just plain false.)
The technical areas of USENET were rife with correctors. The rationale is that correctness is important, even more important than offending someone. (And how can someone be offended by being helped to be more correct?) Generally speaking, those who correct are comfortable being corrected. The goal is correctness!
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I would agree, wouldn’t you agree that sometimes though, if correctness is not a matter of life and death, maybe it just doesn’t matter?
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Honestly, in my heart-of-hearts… no, I don’t agree. Correctness always matters to me. I can force myself to ignore it sometimes, because I recognize that just about everyone thinks the same way–that it doesn’t always matter. But I just don’t fully understand that point of view… it puzzles me. (And I recognize it as a personal flaw, but it is what it is.)
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I don’t think it’s a flaw to think differently Smitty.
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No, I don’t, either, but sometimes the herd does!
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Oh well, that’s the beauty and prerogative of humanity!
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Prerogative, definitely. Lacking that amazing grace that you are so filled with, I often have a hard time seeing the beauty of the herd.
(Quite taken with some individual members on occasion, but that’s another matter entirely.)
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Grace? Hey I just act that way until I believe it! 😉
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Um, actually (tee hee) what we knew as Amaretto, and what now goes by di Saronno, has always been called Amaretto di Saronno (and tastes AMAZING with a hot chocolate après ski; )
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I bet my daughter would like that! Hot chocolate and Amaretto sounds a little too sweet for me! Thanks for stopping by Deb, hope to see you again!
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You’re welcome (you betcha!; ) and, if you don’t mind me asking, where (and when) was that frosty photo taken? We haven’t had many like that around here for a L O N G time (but that’s when the Amaretto would put in an appearance [and only AFTER skiing, mind you]; )
*sigh* SO long ago…
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that was stock photo, the rest are mine. But weather gets like that here, it’s just that it’s too dang cold to go around snapping pictures!
I have on ocassion dressed in so many layers that they could have trained attack dogs with me! hahaha
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LOL! Well now, there’s a visual, all right: )
Man, I miss normal weather – we’ve just gone from March weather straight into June, within the space of a few days – seems like Spring and Fall don’t really exist anymore):
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Here we have winter and construction! Construction seems to overlap into winter the last few years though!
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Yes, I think that’s a Canadian original… Although, it seems to me at least, with recent weather, construction season (for building and roads) is a lot longer than it was just a couple of decades ago.
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I think so too!
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I am the one being corrected most of the time and have started to say ” I know what I said and I stand by it” even when I am proved wrong…………lol
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LOL! That’s funny Joanne – you go girl!
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I think our generation as parents lose out, with the kids being able to use their phones to ‘prove’ us wrong!
BTW, it isn’t the cold weather, or not dressing warmly, or catching a virus; it is all food sensitivities and what you ate.
Now THAT is another story ….. to be told one day. 🙂
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haha – I’m all ears Elizabeth! I have heard that when we have food allergies our immune systems are so busy combatting what we eat that they can’t fight off viruses. Is this along the lines of what you’re thinking?
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Not exactly (although that is part of it). Some reactions to foods are very much like “colds” in the symptoms. Yet a lot of people do not know that is the case and just keep thinking they get a lot of colds.
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Wow that’s facinating!
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Love this!
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Thanks my dear! Now I’m wondering what the fruit of the almond pit is called, what it looks like and if one can eat it… I’ll have to ask my daughter!
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Please do, pie season is coming!
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I’m smiling now. Love that you have a family full of “facts” to share 😉 …and lots of love to go with it!!
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I do too – thanks for stopping by!
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My mother used to tell me the same thing, dress warm so you don’t catch a cold. When I was about 14 I saw a saying, “A sweater is an article of clothing, a kid puts on when mother feels cold.” For the record it didn’t help. 😛
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Love that saying and can totally relate as a mother!
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Still smiling. That conversation sounds familiar. 😉 You have beautiful family Diana!
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me too! They are precious, for sure!
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Totally made my day! Great laughs and great insight! How many of us know these things about ourselves and how are family made them come to be!!
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haha knowing is, as they say, half the solution to solving an issue! 😉
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Ha ha ha this is so funny Diana – but I totally think we’re related! Love the photos too 🙂
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haha At some level we’re all related, right?
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Um, actually….yes that’s true, I’ve got nothing!
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(smiling) I bet you got lots!
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😉
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Ha ha, this post made me smile (thanks,I needed that!). Love the pics too, Diana. So nice of you to share. 🙂
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Thanks Jennifer!
xo
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haha. I have had that conversation about colds too!!!!
And btw — I didn’t know that about Almonds. Whatever did we do before Google? Oh right. I just never got corrected, or get it correct!
Love this post.
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Thanks Louise! The Almond thing still has me reeling! haha
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This is very true…
Back when I was working in TV, our station had this great reporter who do daily live-shots in each newscast. We’re talking three or four times a day. And every single time… now matter how we intro’d him… he’d begin his report with, “Well, actually…”
Us : “We now go to Ed who’s live at the courthouse.”
Ed: “Well, actually I’m standing about ten yards from the courthouse…”
Us: “We now go to Ed who’s talked to the family.”
Ed: “Well, actually I spoke with the in-laws…”
Ha!
Love the post… and thanks for the mention. 🙂
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My pleasure. Thanks for sharing that funny story! Haha I want to meet Ed!
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Love this. Oh so many… yes, colds, and more. Have to think.
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Oh you’ve got to share some of them! Thanks for stopping by.
xo
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