I didn’t want to embarrass him!
This is pretty much how my family
was trained to deal with any sort of
potentially uncomfortable interaction.
Along with the fail-safe method of
running in the opposite direction, other
tools in our confrontation toolbox also
included: freeze, talk about the weather,
go blank, and burst into tears the moment
you’re out of earshot.
Our lack of confrontation-
management skills was no great surprise
considering the fact that my mother
comes from a long lineage of WASPs.
Her parents were the types who
believed that children were to be seen
and not heard, and who looked upon any