Most of my embarrassing moments have come from saying something without thinking. Worse yet, sometimes I actually did think before speaking the words I lived to regret. One such moment occurred when I was a teen.
I grew up in a small town and worked in a drugstore. One Christmas season I was wrapping a gift for a customer, a schoolteacher in her 30’s. She never had been my teacher so I didn’t know her very well and she didn’t know what a wonderful girl I truly was. As I wrapped her purchase, I attempted to make conversation.
All of a sudden a thought occurred to me. She looked so…well…pregnant. She was wearing a bulky winter coat, unbuttoned, and it seemed to accentuate her stomach.
“So! You’re pregnant!” I said in my sweetest voice. It was half question and half exclamation. The look she gave me answered the half that was a question. I realized I had made a terrible mistake.
“No, I am not pregnant!” she informed me through gritted teeth.
“Oh. I’m sorry!” I said. But it was far too late for being sorry.
“It must be the coat.” I said sheepishly. I’m guessing that was the last time she wore that coat.
If I hadn’t been experiencing an anxiety attack, I might have said something like “I thought you may be having another child since you are so young!” or “But you look so beautiful and radiant! You seem to be glowing!” Then again, at a moment like that, silence was probably best. Awkward silence, that is.
I had assumed this woman to be a Christian which was confirmed when she didn’t cuss me out. Or slap me. She must have known about forgiveness. Good thing for me.
I never did get to know her well. Imagine that.
I don’t remember her ever returning to the drug store. What a surprise.
I was embarrassed for weeks. I felt as if I had betrayed all of womanhood. Being a woman, though young and stupid, I had asked a forbidden question. I learned my lesson that day, one I should have instinctively known. But she really did look so…well…you know.
The thing that bothered me most about my words was I truly had thought about them before I spoke, though obviously I did not think long enough.
Thinking before we speak is a good idea, though in the end, we still may be saying, I can’t believe I said that!