I walked into the lunchroom the other day....

I am usually very careful in any correspondence with family and friends. I have on occasion been known to put my foot into my mouth so I am normally diligent in communicating via e-mail or text message. I attempt to be clear and concise so misunderstandings are avoided...and most of the time I succeed (my opinion anyway). Unfortunately that doesn't always hold true. Let me explain.

Fathers Day weekend I was home alone. Cindy (my sweetheart) went to visit our newest grandchild and his parents Friday morning and did not return until Monday afternoon. I have never minded being alone for a few days even over a holiday weekend. My daughters, and my wife, usually communicate with me via telephone or text message conversation and help the time pass quickly. They did a fair job of it this weekend as well. For some reason unknown to me the empty house was more of a problem this time, in spite of their collective efforts. So when Monday morning rolled around I was anxiously awaiting her (Cindy) returning to home.

I was busy through much of the morning with work, banking, and conversation with co-workers and customers and the time passed quickly. I received a text message from Cindy just before noon letting me know that she was getting on the road. I replied with a little more adult reply than I normally would and as soon as I hit send I realized it was a group text including at least one of our daughters, and (I learned later) my Mother-in-law. Oops. I found a thread on my phone with conversation just between Cindy and me and sent a quick "My poor children." text to let her know I realized I made a mistake.

Please don't get me wrong my children are all grown and married and are well aware of the relationship married spouses have. But still not something they want to be thinking about at any time. That evening as Cindy and I were chuckling about the event she shared with me that the daughter who had been included in the group made a screen shot of the conversation and shared it with her siblings. The reaction of one of the daughters is now recorded for all time. She started laughing, and laughing, and laughing, and could not stop laughing and then one of her children began laughing because her mommy was and laughed right along with her. It is hilarious. Her tummy must still ache from laughing as hard and long as she did.

After I realized my error I started laughing about it as well and was still chuckling as I walked into the lunchroom down the hall from my office. Three of my co-workers were there getting ready to eat and I had to explain what had happened. They all smiled and chuckled throughout our mealtime. Mostly because it's just funny, but also because it is so out of character for me to say or write something even slightly risque or inappropriate.

In Proverbs 21:23 it says, "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles."

While I am not overly disturbed by this amusing occurrence, I am reminded of the need to keep my tongue in check (or writing in this case). Neal A. Maxwell said it well, "Let us have integrity and not write checks with our tongues which our conduct cannot cash." I am resolved to improve my performance by taking greater care in writing and speaking. An inattentive misspoken word could harm, or embarrass, and that is not what I hope to accomplish on any day.

And no I will not share here or anywhere what was written in that careless moment. It has already been distributed more widely than I like.

Thanks for checking in. More to come soon. See you then.