Teachable Moments – #1LinerWeds

When I was a child – yes, this is going to be one of those posts – we didn’t have “learning or teachable moments.” We had rules and expectations, and when those expectations weren’t met, it wasn’t a soft and reassuring voice that I remember. I remember the message, and perhaps that’s the important thing. My father never hit either of his children, but wall paper would peel itself off the wall roll itself up and hide in a corner when he yelled. He also mixed in a variety of colorful language in combinations that defy modern imagination.

What has me thinking about this subject? I thought about writing this the moment it happened, but a better one-liner came up. Later, a blog post by Laura, over at RFTM reminded me of the incident. I added the link to Laura’s post to my notes for this post, which I had planned to publish “soon.” Something else happened that was better for One-Liner Wednesday and that note sunk to the bottom of the pile. Digital piles are no better than real piles. Recently, I read something, somewhere, that reminded me of this subject, so here we go:

I was returning from a business trip. It had been a day that started early with a long ride to the airport, included a long layover and resulted in me arriving home at the other end of darkness. Bradley (BDL) is a small airport that doesn’t have any late-night departures. Returning at night means walking past locked, dark shops, a vacant TSA and an unmanned information booth. McDonald’s is open, and I have taken advantage of that fact on several occasions. I should have stopped for a cheeseburger on this night.

As I was heading toward Baggage Claim, a young girl with a little pink roll-aboard suitcase scooted past me, turned and ran back behind me. The first time this happened, I thought about how wonderful it is that children can remain happy after a delayed flight. The second time it happened, I had to slow down a little, and I thought “someone should be holding this child’s hand.” The third time it happened, she smacked me in the knee with her suitcase and I almost tripped. I turned to see if this child actually had adult guardians. The mother looked at me with a kids-will-be-kids smile, turn to her daughter and said:

“Harmony, this is a learning moment. What should you be doing?”

What the frolic?

No, Harmony, this is NOT a learning moment. This is, as my father would have said, the point at which you apologize to the nice man and step your dumb a** back to your parents!

Oh, if only I could say those things in public…

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

“Hang on, I hear something.”

“Did you hear something? I think someone is on the porch.”

“Dad says it’s OK, so I guess it’s OK.”

“I’ll take the blue, please.”

“Hi there. Do you have peanuts?”

“I’m bulking up a little for the winter.” Note – we don’t give them that many peanuts.

Nice blue skies.

“Hang on, I’m coming.”

It’s going to be a nice day.

I was working at home today. My desk is under MiMi’s self.

Monday after a 4-day weekend in the office. Brrr.

“Is it time to get up?”

BDL after a night arrival.

“Can you toss it through the fence?”

“I was sleeping…”

“Are you done? I’d like to go back to sleep.”