Every family has their code words and we are no different from anyone else. Before Burger King started calling itself BK, my parents called it that when they didn’t want us to know what they were talking about. My husband and I call our sons by their middle initial when we don’t want them to know who we are talking about. It took Eric to point out one of the most pervasive in our family however.
He was the first who noticed that every time my mother started a sentence with “You know what?” a chore assignment followed. As in, “You know what, Eric? The garbage needs to go out” or “You know what, Eric? That room is a mess, can you straighten it up?” After he pointed that out I realized that I do that with my children too. “You know what? You need to eat your dinner now.” “You know what? You need to stop screaming and get in the bath.”
He pointed that out years ago and I still can’t stop doing it!! I don’t know how it started, maybe my grandmother did that with my mother and uncle, but somehow it has become entrenched in my psyche. It used to be something that I tried to stop doing. Every time I heard it come out of my mouth I would wince mentally. I don’t know why I cared so much except that maybe I don’t like being so predictable. Recently, it just makes me smile when I say it. It’s a reminder of my childhood, my Mother and my brother.
I’ll never forget us sitting around at my parent’s house the day that Eric pointed out the use of that phrase. Eric, my Dad, my husband and I were sitting in the den. My Mom was in the kitchen. After we laughed about it and acknowledged the truth of his observation, the first words my Mom said were “You know what, Eric?” This was totally unconscious and made us all fall over with fits of laughter again. Eric always brought the laughter, and I will always miss it.
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