Misunderstandings

They cause a lot of wha???

They can cause embarrassment and hurt feelings or waste time and energy.

Sometimes misunderstandings just delight me though.

Mark and I are reading a book for school called What Ever Happened to Penny Candy?  It is about economics.  Mark, being Mark, loves the book.  He is fascinated with economics.  I am not fascinated with economics but I have learned from the book.

I was telling Geri about a part of the book and Emma said, "Oh!  I thought Penny Candy was a person!"

She had seen the book lying around.  She thought we were reading a mystery...

An organization that benefits blind people called and asked if I had any donations.  Since I'm on the getting-rid-of-things rampage, why yes, I did have things to donate.  I was having Mark help me move stuff to the front porch for pick up.  I was supposed to put a sign on it that read 'Blind' so they would know it was for them.

One of the items I was donating was a mirror.  Mark was amiably hauling things for me but the mirror gave him pause.  "Mom?" he said, in his best diplomatic-I-don't-mean-to-offend voice, "I'm not sure you should donate the mirror.  Why does a blind person need a mirror?"

I explained that the items would be sold and the money would go to benefit blind people.  Ohhhhhh.

One of my favorite misunderstandings happened awhile ago but it still makes me happy.  Emma asked one of her friends at school (who is also a Mormon) if he'd watched General Conference (it's a televised church meeting twice a year that we love--it means church in pajamas and listening to our prophet).  Anyway. This boy said, "No," in a way to indicate Emma was off her rocker.

Then he said, "Wait, what did you say?"

Emma repeated her question.

He said, "Ohhhh, I thought you asked me if I went to a dental conference."

I've never met that boy but I think I love him.  

My noble little sister told me about a misunderstanding of her own the other day.  It is more serious than these others--it cost her money--but it also delighted me just a tiny bit.  It's because Olivia, all the way down to her core, is a good good person.  She was trying to do something really nice for someone she hardly knew and it ended up costing her way more money than she thought.  Not fun but I love that girl.  She has a heart of gold.