Conversations

 

 

Abbie and Zac  are getting ready to move.

Their house has been a project for months.

This weekend it is finally time to move the boxes.

There has been many hours of dry walling, painting, and cleaning.

We are in the final stretch.

I swear we would think okay, the painting is done.

We would go home and return to see someone had gone crazy

with painter's caulk and we needed to touch up once again.

The floors have been the same story.

Clean them.

Leave.

Come back to find paint splatters on the wood.

Assume the position of hands and knees, then scrub.

The work has led to many conversations.

Most are truly ridiculous.

Yesterday Abbie and I were painting the back porch.

We were discussing how people use the wrong words.

She said she cringes when she hears people say

"for all intensive purposes" instead of "intents and purposes".

I said mine is the confusion with taut and taunt and

people incorrectly using loose and lose.

Taut means tight.

Taunt means to tease.

You lose weight so your pants are loose.

Then we both admitted we do it.

We use the wrong words.

But we both said that we are dumber.

Trust me, she is not even dumb.

She is young and she is a doctor.

I am neither.

Dumber happens.

Use it or lose it?

Nah, I think it is aging that does it.

I also think it is all the texting and emailing.

When I stopped hand writing, I got sloppy.

Oh yeah, and of course I believe Dead Estrogen is the main culprit.

Abbie said that after having Cliff, she is more apt to mix up words.

She told me she read that each time a woman gives birth,

her intelligence diminishes.

I said, "Man, that  Duggar woman must be a complete idiot by now."

(FYI Michelle Duggar is on the TLC show

19 kids and Counting. They are all biological children.

I suspect her brain is not all that has suffered.)

However, the truth is

 I don't really care about your spelling, your punctuation, or your grammar.

If you say "she hasn't any shoes",

or "she doesn't have shoes";

or "she ain't got no shoes"

I can't care.

What I care about is if she is shoe-less,

that you are concerned about that fact.

I don't really worry about our use of the English language.

I care about the condition of our hearts.

You can say it any way you want.

Just say it with love.

Put down those imaginary red pens

and go help someone who needs it.

Give a smile, a hug, or a dollar or two.

Be kind.

Love one another.

It madders matters.