Head Games

   I can't explain how or why this little dinner time game got started. My boys were around five and three then, and sitting at the table one evening eating supper, we were playing a silly game for our own amusement.

   We would say a word, any word, for the objects or people we saw around the room then add the word 'head' to it. That is 'Mommyhead', 'Seanhead', 'Drewhead', 'chairhead', 'spoonhead', etcetera. As I said, there was no rhyme or reason for it, just an innocent dinner diversion which my kids, with their underdeveloped senses of humor, thought was outrageously funny and were literally laughing their heads off.

   Dinner over, we were clearing the table. My mother and her then husband arrived unexpected, letting themselves in through the front door, which was fine...for a moment.

   Dear Reader, if you've read my previous posts you may see where this is heading, but I'll go on.

   Still playing the game, my youngest, his eager face aglow, a twinkle in his eyes, took in a big, open-mouthed breath of air, having an 'aha' moment. I could see the words forming on his sweet, little lips, and I was powerless to head it off. He pointed at my mother's husband, and proud as he could be, declared, “Dickhead.”

   There's no good way to recover from that, there's no excuses to be made, no apologies will suffice. I could stammer and attempt to explain, but finally I just had to move past it with a shrug, oh, and a subtle smirk on my face, proud of my boy, who did, unknowingly, hit the nail on the head.