Words that Hurt
I’ve never liked the saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Words do hurt. And I learned the hard way just how much they can hurt.
Prior to getting married more than 29 years ago, my future husband and I had a somewhat serious discussion one night after a few drinks too many. We wanted to know what would be the worst thing we would ever say to each other. He told me that he would probably call me a “bitch” and quickly added, “not that you are!” (Little did he know then that, at times, I was a good representative of this title. Of course, I didn’t tell him this at the time. I didn’t want to tarnish his image of me before the wedding!)
When it came to my turn, I shocked this good man, a widower, with the words I said. I told him that if I were ever really, really mad at him, I’d probably say, “No wonder your first wife committed suicide!”