16 Comments
User's avatar
Aysu Selin's avatar

hat a fun and also vulnerable post. I love the way you put things into perspective. The wedding dress incident definitely deserved a strong expression 🙀

Expand full comment
Leslie Senevey's avatar

Funny thing about the wedding dress incident is that I didn’t say it very loud, but I forgot I was mic’d. Plus the wedding coordinator had specifically told my dad at the rehearsal to be sure to walk around my train. Thankful for the memory now though. It’s pretty funny.

Expand full comment
Anna B. Reardon (she/her)'s avatar

Loved this. I, too, have always had a potty mouth.

Expand full comment
Bridget Young's avatar

I cringe at my high school self and her brash use of language that I thought made me relevant and tough and untouchable. Thank goodness for growth and the ability to use words in more useful ways. Also, the wedding dress moment- gold.

Expand full comment
Leslie Senevey's avatar

Right?! I’m guessing there were many of us who used such language as a shield. Now I just use it for punctuation.

Expand full comment
Alyson Mosquera Dutemple's avatar

Your grandma sounds like she was a real pip.

Damn good post, Leslie.

Expand full comment
Leslie Senevey's avatar

You’re my people.

Expand full comment
Alyson Mosquera Dutemple's avatar

Damn straight! 🙌🙌

Expand full comment
Lindsey Smith's avatar

Ok those neighbors sound like a piece of work, like the kind of people who start HOA wars over yard signs. Fuck em. Swearing has meaning. I actually do swear around my kids when the situation calls for it (never AT them, obviously) and we talk about the power those words hold and why it takes maturity to be able to use them appropriately and know when/where, and also the risks of misuse. Music has taken us a long way in these conversations, whether it’s Taylor Swift or Broadway musicals, because it’s the perfect example of how swearing can be deployed to heighten emotions. Ain’t no shame in my swearing game.

Expand full comment
Leslie Senevey's avatar

I totally agree with you about swearing. But the neighbors actually weren’t Karen-y. It was the 70s and a Gen X childhood where all the parents were pretty hands off. That’s what made it so major. And what tells me—and told my parents at the time—I must have been a mess. Which made sense bc my home life was a mess.

Expand full comment
Jodi Sh. Doff's avatar

I love a good potty mouth. And I love the specificity of “a dinner party at a palace,” leaving all other dinner parties fair game. I have to ask do you have the petition, does a hard copy of it live any place? Well, I am also a bit of a potty mouth, this is where we differ, my mother learned to curse from me.

Expand full comment
Leslie Senevey's avatar

I do not have it. Kinda wish I did. And I bet you were a helluva teacher!

Expand full comment
Chris Stanton's avatar

When we were in first grade, one of my best friends decided to write down every curse word he knew. The teacher saw him pass it to me and took it. She wasn’t thrilled. But he and I still curse like crazy to this day.

Expand full comment
Leslie Senevey's avatar

Nice to know I wasn't the only elementary school trash mouth.

Expand full comment
Bill Straub's avatar

That is some funny shit…

Expand full comment
LIZ L's avatar

EXACTLY!!

Expand full comment