There’s No Shame In Public Places

I would like to lay the blame elsewhere. The culpability of friends, social contacts, or even Sunday School teachers who collectively play a role in overall influences would be preferable over accepting the responsibility as handed down through the deoxyribonucleic acids of their genetics.

Goofing off in public is a trait common in all three of my children. It is an inherited commonality, a direct derision from the Y chromosome of my better half. While most wouldn’t describe my personality as meek or unnaturally reserved, I can lay claim to an ability to draw upon appropriate amounts of decorum when in public places. The majority of my immediate family cannot, nor do they care to.

For as long as I have known my husband, he has tried to catch me off guard in public outings where laughter would be unbefitting for the normal. He considers it a personal challenge to disrupt the composure of yours truly whether it is in church, the labor and delivery room, a serious meeting or any other setting one does not desire out of place notice. As with any situation, attention is not given to the perpetrator causing the inappropriateness; instead, focus is aimed at the person giggling like a buffoon.

Therein lies my husband’s joy.

I first noticed this unfortunate trait in my oldest son, Chase, when he was two years old. I was standing in the aisle of a grocery store and Chase was sitting in the folded down seat of the buggy. My back was to my son as I scanned the shelves for the desired item, while another lady, only a few feet away, perused the ones opposite mine. We turned to our respective carts at the same moment, just in time for the cute toddler to look the stranger directly in the eye and say loudly, “ Excuse me lady, I pooted.”

Really, there are no words.

Recently, we celebrated the first day of Summer by going to an IMAX theatre to see the movie, Shrek. I gathered our concessions and walked towards our entrance where my three offspring were waiting in line for the movie to begin. This is what I found:






Surely, the Sunday School teachers are to blame.