Karma

Mom likes to tell the story of when we went to Disney World when I was 5. It seems that after dinner one night I was bad. Not a little bad, but really, really bad. We were at Pizza Hut having dinner with a family friend. As the story goes Mom was taking me to the bathroom for a "talk." (Mom speak for a spanking.) The friend started making excuses for me. It had been a long day. I was tired. I was hot. I was over-excited. All good excuses. It didn't work. Mom turned to her friend and said, "Do you want to be next?" He wisely shut his mouth.

Sunday night after we got back from New Orleans Paige was bad. Not just a little bad, but really, really bad. She was screaming in my ear, hitting, kicking, the works. We had tried to get her to calm down but it wasn't working. She had already had a time out. A spanking was next on the punishment list. During the time out I called Mom to let her know we were home safe and sound. And then I told her how bad Paige was being, and that she was going to be getting a spanking soon. Mom started making excuses. She was tired. It had been a long weekend. Her routine was off. All good excuses. And all true. But it doesn't excuse hitting, kicking & trying to burst my ear drums with her screams. I bit my tongue. What I wanted to say was, "Do you want to be next?" What I actually said was bye.

Another example of karma at work:

My favorite color is green. It's always been green. When I was Paige's age if the clothes weren't green I wouldn't get dressed. Mom's favorite color is red. The one color she couldn't stand? Green. There's several colors I don't like, the one I can't stand the most is pink. Paige's favorite color? Yeah. Pink.

Karma has a funny sense of humor.