My Mama Said A Bad Word

A while ago, I was very upset over something so I called my mom to talk it out. I started talking and my anger over the issue I was dealing with quickly gave way to what I was really feeling: sadness and heartbreak. I started to cry and just talked for about 20 minutes straight, letting it all out. She was quiet, letting me struggle to find the words to express myself through the sobs. Luckily, I don’t have to be very articulate when I talk to my mama. She gets me. After I got the story out, she started advising me in her patient, quiet way. My mom is incredibly kind and soft-spoken. She gives other people the benefit of the doubt and can always talk me down on those rare occasions when my emotions get the better of me. But this time, after hearing what I was going through, and starting out in her usual “let’s try to rationally and compassionately figure it out” way, she started to talk increasingly faster and more passionately, clearly getting more and more agitated as she worked her way through it, realizing that someone had unnecessarily hurt her baby.

And then my mother said the F word. Deliberately, forcefully and unapologetically. I’ve heard her say it before, but usually when she’s really, really pissed and never in a conversation with me. I even forgot what we were talking about for a second, because I was temporarily in shock that I just heard my mother say that word in a conversation with me. I kinda feel like a got a glimpse of the real her. The uninhibited, honest her that she probably is with her girlfriends after a couple margaritas. She said what to you? Oh, please. Fuck her.

Dude, my mom totally says the F word. And she said it with me. Screw moving out of the house, getting a college degree or paying taxes. After this, I am officially a grown-up. But oh my gosh, I could never say that word in front of her. No way, I’d rather die.