YOU'VE MADE ME A LIAR FOR FIVE CENTS

Yesterday I was sitting on the lawn swings, talking with a neighbor. Her kids came home from school and stopped to chat. We started talking about the weather and I mentioned, "It isn't windy here." I have to mention that right at that moment there was a breeze blowing.

The teenage girl looked at me as if I had nothing in my head by dust mites. She said that the wind was blowing--RIGHT THAT VERY MINUTE. She didn't shout but I felt shouting in my ears.

I knew the wind was blowing--I thought she knew that it was a relative statement. I explained it to her. We are against the mountains and the winds, coming out of the many canyons, miss us. Occasionally we get wind but not like the rest of the valley does.

So, there I sat, feeling like a liar. I was defending my statement DURING a breeze. No wonder the teenager called me on it.

Then I remembered a time when I was a kid. I was shopping with Mom. She was telling someone about a bargain. There wasn't much that gave Mom more pleasure than a good bargain. I interrupted her to tell her she had made a mistake. I was SURE she would be delighted to have the correct information.

She was not delighted. She was embarrassed in front of her friends. "You've made me a liar for five cents," she said.

I was confused. Just like my neighbor's teenage daughter was confused. The wind was blowing and I said it didn't. My mom got a bargain but she paid five cents more than she said she did.

And now, I understand one more incident that happened all those years ago with my Mom.

Instead of trying to defend myself I wish I had said, "You're right. Of course the wind blows here. It's blowing right now." We could have laughed.

And I wish Mom had said, "Oh, you're right. I did pay five cents more. I forgot." I wish she would have laughed.

Then I wouldn't have felt guilty all these years.