I am fully aware that my frequent use of the “F” word should be dialed back a bit. However my circle of influence includes my more liberal friends who are fully accepting of the fact I have the mouth of a sailor.
In my defence, I never use the F bomb in front of my kiddos. I have always been fine with it though and felt my language added some sass and realness to my blog posts. Until my grandparents found my blog online, and read it as well.
I am beyond grateful that at 43 years of age I still have a set of living grandparents. They were key in my growing up years because they provided a stability I didn’t have otherwise. It is for obvious reasons that I adore, love and respect them for all the sacrifices they have made to ensure a good life for their family. I treasure the fact that my children have great grandparents.
So you can imagine my embarrassment when my mother promptly called to report that my grandparents, while not ‘offended’ were ‘deeply disappointed’ in their eldest granddaughter for the frequent use of “Fuck, shit and cluster fuck” in her blog posts.
Shit….
It is one thing to offend your grandparents. It is entirely another story altogether to disappoint them.
Ouch. That one left a mark. My initial response was anger followed by stammering an explanation and then blaming other family members for being much worse than I and why was I being singled out?
“Because they expect better from you.”
Fuck.
I admit, the post they read was a bit more, shall we say, candid in it’s detailing of the huge adjustments required when navigating the blending of a family. I was attempting to ‘lighten it up’ so to speak with some crass humor. Of course it had to be THAT post my grandparents stumbled upon.
I hear that writers should stand behind their work and deal with the comments, whether they are positive OR negative. But, in the case of my grandparents I couldn’t bear the thought of their disappointment. Call me passive but it is the damn truth.
I broke the cardinal rule of writing. I went into my blog, deleted the offensive post and promptly wrote an apology for my negative word choices.
In my mind it was more important to honor my grandparents than stand by some post out of sheer stubbornness.
I swear though, I think that post was some of my best work. Shit….
Jessica
http://travelingmercies-jessica.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/thedalaimama
