A rose by any other name...

Would of course smell as sweet, but I'm sure the rose would feel bad if it was referred to as a Satan Blossom.

I've been trying very hard to eliminate double-sided words from my vocabulary when it comes to Michael. I may refer to myself as "weird" or "strange", but at this point in my life I wear them as a badge of honor, that I'm different from everyone else. That said, ten years or so ago, they didn't feel all that good when other's used them as derogatory words. I really didn't fit-in in high school, especially my first two and half years there. There was this one group of boys who made my life a veritable hell. One of their favorite taunts was to say "Skal Gal" (a play on my last name) in this high pitched voice as I walked past them in the hall. Like all nick-names, it stuck - but in my junior and senior years it was used in a completely different way and became a good thing - like my secret name to my friends and those in the theater department - I was the QUEEN of props, I don't know if they've seen the like since.

John still has a tendency to use "weird" or "strange" to describe Michael and my back crawls just a little bit every time I hear him do it. We got Michael this play cell phone a few months ago and John recorded a message saying, "Michael is weird," on it and I made him erase it immediately. He's not the only one who has these slip-ups though. We both refer to Michael as "Stinker-Man" without a thought most of the time, not thinking of the message we are sending him. I've used the word "Slut" to describe Michael's flirting ways a few times in an attempt at wit and have felt immense guilt afterwards.

I just want my boy to be the happiest person he can be and to not find out how much words can hurt from me. Hopefully, he'll be able to escape a good bit of that lesson from others as well.