I read somewhere recently, that people who use the F word often are loyal, honest, and more real than people who do not.  If this is true, I must be a pretty loyal and honorable person.  I know my writing is pretty clean but it is rare a day that I don’t drop an eff bomb here and there.  Be it under my breath at work or in the car at the top of my lungs, it is definitely my favorite expletive.  Most of us can remember the first time we said a bad word.  You got in trouble and, perhaps, your mouth washed out with soap.  I do not remember my first bad word but the story of this moment is infamous in my family.

It was 1985 and I was 3.

My Nana and PopPop were my caretakers while my parents both worked.  While we were not blood related, I loved my Nana and PopPop as if they were my actual grandparents. They lived in Newark at the lake and their house backed up to 880.  Because of their vicinity to the freeway, they sometimes had rodent issues.  There was one particular rat that gave my PopPop a run for his money.  It would constantly escape his traps and infuriated him.  But today was the day PopPop would get his revenge.  I was toddling around while my Nana was folding sheets.  PopPop bursts into the house!  “Va fangool!  I got that FUCKING rat!!”.  Not wanting to be a bad influence on me and laugh at her insane husband, my Nan hid behind the sheet she was folding, laughing, her shoulders bouncing up and down.  Now being 3, I misinterpreted Nana’s laughing with crying.  It was completely innocent confusion when I went to Nan and said, “Oh, don’t cry Nana!  PopPop got that fucking rat.”  Nana and PopPop were absolutely horrified that they had taught my adorable 3 year old self my first bad word.  Nan called my mom at work, “Ohhhh, Lisa.” She said.  After hearing what had happened, my mom could only laugh at the situation.  She was most likely relieved that I had copied them and not her.  She is a very loyal, honest, and real person herself, who likes to use the F word a lot.

Nana and PopPop

This is my favorite story that includes my Nana and PopPop.  They were some of my favorite people.  They didn’t have to love me and my sister like their own grandchildren but they did.  We lost PopPop to lung cancer in 1988 and Nana to breast cancer in 2013.  I didn’t just learn bad words from these two wonderful people.  They taught me respect, kindness, love, humility, and life lessons I will never forget.  If I ever get the chance to be there for someone like they were for me, I hope I’m as great as they were.