Silence Is Often Underrated

Last night I tried to pour some dog food from the ginormous bag of senior food I'd bought recently.* The bag proved to be too heavy for me and I accidentally poured kibble all over the floor.

"Wow," my son remarked as he ate his (non-doggy) dinner, "that was really clumsy."

It had been an attitude-filled afternoon.

You know, I told him, I've had a hard day and that kind of hurts my feelings, so I'm going to take a little break from talking to you.

The kiddo chewed in silence and thought about what I'd said. After a few minutes, he spoke. "Mom, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I was just trying to use one of the words we learned in school today."

Okay, thanks for telling me, I told him.

Another minute passed. "Hmm," my son said, the picture of sincerity and innocence, "maybe I should've used a different word, like 'stumble'."


* Can I just tell you? Senior dogs really do need senior food. It makes their poops perfect. And you do not want a dog with, well, imperfect poops, lest you find yourself standing next to a dog tub, washing a reluctant dog's diarrheal butt while you wonder what exactly you ever went to college for. Take my word for it.