Recently, I realized my email needed some decluttering. It was full, and by full I mean stuffed; packed with saved messages almost two decades old.
“Why did I save these things?” I asked myself as I went through and popped open each message.
Some of them were reminders: Cub Scout popcorn order link! in the subject line.
Another one was the order confirmation for college football tickets to a game that happened years ago.
And then there was a message from a kindergarten teacher with the subject line: Zipping of Coat.
The “actual” subject was N2, our middle child.
The text read:
“N2 and I have this running joke going about zipping his coat. He says he can’t, I say he can, He says he is not going to practice and I told him I would email his parents. He told me,
‘You said that last time and forgot. I bet you forget this time, too.’”
Suddenly I was transported back to 2010 and staring at my defiant then 5 year old.
To say he tested the boundaries would be an understatement (and some things never change).
Weeks later, that same teacher also felt compelled to email me about how funny N2 is:
“We were talking about all the things we were going to learn about this year such as penguins, snow, etc. He said, ‘We should learn not to eat yellow snow. It’s not good for you.’ I wanted to crack up laughing.”
Back then, I was equal parts horrified and entertained by these emails.
Not to be muffled, N2′s unfiltered comments continued into first grade:
“N2 joined us today for lunch. Another child was telling us about a time she went to Trunk or Treat. She described that some people dress their cars and people can vote for the best decorated. N2 said, ‘I bet some people don’t do it because they probably would have to pay taxes on it.’”
There is a chance you have heard — or read — these stories before. N2 provided (provides) a plethora of subject matter.
And I warned him, as I did all of our children, that these stories could one day come back to haunt him, just like the more recent emails regarding him continue to haunt us:
Subject: Tuition Payment
About the Author