Reemerging

I once read that if you can’t write something good, don’t write anything at all.  The problem is that life has gotten so busy that I simply haven’t had time to write anything good, and it’s going on two weeks since I’ve written anything, and, believe me, I’ve got plenty of blog material—just no time to do any of it justice—and this is why I’m writing about cooties today.

I figure there’s just enough material to give me a small post, so that no one thinks I died or anything grim like that.  We’re all fine, sort of, except that Sissy made the mistake of teasing Jax when she said, “Get away from me.  I don’t want your cooties.”

“COOTIES!” Jax said with the enthusiasm of a little monster who thinks he’s learned a cool, new bad word.  “What are COOTIES?!”

No one would answer him, so he tormented us for days asking us what cooties are.  Finally, I looked the damn word up… this would be because I didn’t know what the true definition of cooties was. From Wikipedia, which referenced a 1980 article called “The Cooties Complex,” I learned:

Cooties is, in American childlore, a kind of infectious disease. The term may have originated with references to lice, fleas, and other parasites. A child is said to “catch” cooties through any form of bodily contact, proximity, or touching of an “infected” person or from a person of the opposite sex of the same age. Often the “infected” person is someone who is perceived as “different” and bears some kind of social stigma: of the opposite sex, disabled, someone who is shy or withdrawn, someone who has peculiar mannerisms, etc. The phrase is most commonly used by children aged 4–10; however, it is also used by many others older than 10.

So then I had to explain to Jax that Sissy may have been suggesting that he had fleas or that he was different or that he bore some kind of social stigma or peculiar mannerisms, and this explanation, of course, unleashed a torrent of other questions.

Do people have fleas?

What’s a social stigma? (Note:  he botched the pronunciation.)

What does  peculiar mean?

What’s the opposite sex?

Mommy, how old is Aunt Sissy?

Aunt Sissy, I explained, is obviously at the top of the age bracket of people most likely to use the word “cooties,” so she’s 10.  That’s Bean math, folks.  And, by the way, if anyone asks—I’m 25.

As for all of the other questions, well, I’m still trying to answer them.