Monday, June 26, 2006

There Is A Reason People Try To Repress Certain Childhood Memories

My mother was recently going through some old pictures from when we were kids and came across one that needed an explanation, so she called me. Here is our brief yet disturbing conversation.

Mom: "Which of the dogs, Leo or Wolf, had puppies?"

Me: "I don't think either of them had puppies."

Mom: "Well, I came across this picture of a box of puppies in our garage and I'm thinking that one of them gave birth."

Me: "Well, I don't really remember that. And if they did have puppies, it wasn't because they made them with each other; they were both boy dogs."

Mom: "No, I don't think so. I remember not wanting Leo in the house because she had her period and I didn't want her to get blood all over. I think she was a girl."

Me: "Well, that's just disgusting and I'm pretty sure Leo was a boy dog. And the dogs were never in the house, Mom."

Mom: "Oh yes."

Me: "No, Mom, they were not. The dogs never came into the house. Besides, Leo was an outside dog."

Mom: "Well, they were in the house. Wolf used to sleep in the garage and I remember them being in the house because Wolf used to hump Nannie's leg. I remember my father trying to get him off of her because she was so tiny and he was afraid she'd get hurt."

Well, yes, I can see how my grandfather would be concerned that the dog was humping his wife. In public, no less. And that's about all I needed to hear. I stopped listening at the point where my mother detailed how the dog used to hump my 4' 11" grandmother's leg. Do I really need to know anything more than that?

When I called my brother for his take on the story, he immediately said "Uhh, no, they didn't have puppies. They were both boy dogs."

Case closed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Salena,
this is the funniest story .... I was laughing out loud!
But! there is justice out there ... just wait, your turn will come.
Having had similar conversations with my children, personally, I think you "youngsters" just don't
remember things right!
Love,
Elke