The finger.

Zachary told me that a kid at the park gave him the finger the other day. I told him to forget about it. It reminded me, however, of something from my childhood.

I have mentioned before that my father believes that his main goal in raising children is to embarrass them at any opportunity - and he had plenty of them.

One day, when I was about 12 or 13, my father and I were in the car. We came to an intersection and saw my uncle sitting diagonal to us. My father says (real sly like) "Hey, on the way by let's give Uncle Gary the finger". I just thought that was the greatest idea - so I did. I didn't even hesitate. I trusted my father completely. I was so proud that he had given me permission to flip the bird to another adult.

Little did I know that my father never gave my uncle the finger. He sat back, waved and had a good laugh at his daughter making an ass out of herself...jerk.

My uncle still tells that story...at nearly every family event...priceless.