This is exactly what happened to a friend of mine, who excepted a guy to pay for her movie ticket. A group of teens, back then a few years from now, used to have quality time together without mutual obligations of any kind. Two guys and two girls, waiting in a line for a ticket to a three-hour happiness of sitting in the dark hall being devoured by each other’s presence and the large screen in front of them. For an unknown and illogical reason, my friend had decided she was not going to be charged for her ticket (even now, she can’t explain why) and was truly embarrassed when she was asked to pay. Why embarrassed? Well, it is not very flattering to hear from a good-looking guy ’so, are you going to pay?’. The age aspect should be considered, of course, but still – ouch!

Another friend had a business meeting at lunch, and though her role was not very significant, she had to appear at her best. Which she, certainly did. At least she thought so until saw herself in the mirror. No close examination was needed to notice the remnants of quality steak and no less quality salad in the corners of her mouth. Her verdict for committing an unforgivable sin was slow self-execution during the weekend.  

Conclusion?

There are just too many possible scenarios of getting caught with pants down to make generic conclusions. Time cannot always blur the memory, but then at least, the life lesson can be learned and applied in a better way. As for the movie-ticket story, there is not much to be done except for forget the whole issue bluntly. My lunch-abashed friend did learn the lesson and even went a bit to the extreme, never ordering food at business meetings, to avoid staining her face and reputation.

At that moment, it hit me-I had never even thought to talk with him about sex. Not since his youngest sister was born, (when he was 4) and we discussed the gestational process. At the time, he didn’t seem to care how she had gotten in there-he was much more interested in how she was going to get out.

The moments dragged on, and then out of no where, my 16 year old piped up: “It’s in the ring. The man’s genetic material is encoded in the wedding ring. Actually, the DNA is in the women’s diamond, that’s why it is so sparkly. He puts it on her finger next to the wedding ring, and the DNA gradually releases and enters her body after they get married.”

Brilliant! I was truly impressed. “Did you just think of that?” I asked. My 14 year old daughter quickly hissed, like a goose, and pointed out that my comments would definitely affect the story’s credibility, seeing as my son was listening to this exchange.

The ring story got us through my birthday breakfast. By afternoon, I figured I’d better set him strait and save him some future therapy bills, so I looked for any books on the subject that I could find lying around, and finally settled for just being direct. His reaction? “Eeeewww, that’s gross”.

And of course, once he had digested the basic facts, and thought for a moment, he added: “That must mean you and dad had sex…”

Ew.

Maybe I should have just gone with “It’s in the ring”.