Profanity

At the beginning of the summer of 1982, we moved from McClellandtown, Pennsylvania to East Liverpool, Ohio, where I became pastor of the Oakland Free Methodist Church.  Travis was 6, Troy was nearly 2, and Tracie was 1. We lived at 315 Hill Boulevard in the church's small parsonage.

The previous pastor had enjoyed the company of a family dog.  As soon as we moved in, a lady from Oakland church talked Debbie into taking a kitten. Without even unpacking, we loaded up to move to the Tri State Campground for the annual 10-day Family Camp!  It was a chaotic time!

We left the kitten in the house while we went to camp, stopping by daily to feed it and change the litter.  At the end of camp, we gratefully returned to our new, little home.  Within seconds of walking in, Debbie noticed that her socks and the children's feet were covered with fleas!  Having been through a stressful couple of months, she simply said (intended to be under-her-breath), "Damn cat!"

Once we were settled in and fully unpacked, we took the kids and went to Pittsburgh for the day to enjoy the Three Rivers Arts Festival!  It was a hot day.  I backpacked Troy and Debbie pushed Tracie in her stroller.  On the way into the park, somehow-or-other, Debbie stepped in some dog poop with a brand new pair of sandals she had recently bought.  Needless to say, she was disgusted.

In spite of the heat, we had a nice time and were all pretty tired as we headed back to the car.  On the journey, without knowing quite how it happened, Debbie looked down and noticed that a pigeon had crapped on her new shoes. I was walking a bit ahead of her;  she called out to me in disgust:  "I just got pigeon shit on my new sandals!"

It was perhaps a week later when we were going out to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary.  I'm not quite sure how it worked out, but one of the young women from McClellandtown had agreed to watch the kids while we were out.  So, Barb Barnhart arrived and as she walked into the house, Travis blurted out: "Hey Barb, my Mom says shit and damn!"

Debbie, in instant embarrassment, looked impulsively at Barb - who had a somewhat stunned look on her face;  she then decided that it wasn't even worth trying to explain it.  She simply let it pass...