Remember...

[I should be studying]

One weekend over the summer I was at my best friend's house with my mom and sister ; her dad and brother were also present. To outside observers, this should seem weird, but for us it is not. [side note]

This past summer I took a couple of classes in Athens and my "bff" was filling me in on the latest small-town gossip. This summer in particular, it seemed like there were a lot of pregnancies from couples that we knew. Both of our parents were super young when they got married and had us and we were chatting about what it would be like to have a kid right now.

Apparently, this scared her father. Now, her dad is...how do I say this?...a little rough around the edges. He acts all tough with us (he thinks my sister and I are two of his own) and tries to keep us on a straight line. Despite his gruff nature, we normally break him down pretty easy. I have personally been known to make him blush.

Anyways: Because my own dad was not there, I guess he decided to take on the arduous task of giving us three girls a quick run down on the "birds and the bees." Yeah, you read it correctly. 19, 19, and 21 years old...our moms pretty much covered all that, but this was no ordinary talk.

This talk happened to be around the same time we were learning about the male and female reproductive systems in BIO 1103 and I decided to share a few stats that a guy in my class shared with me. Hot tubs, killing sperm. Very strange. Very wrong. Very scary that he believed these tall-tales.

Her dad was scared.

At one point we were all talking and the next thing I know, I see his hand make this strange, snake-like motion from across the room. "The swimmies can still swim." The room went silent. Then he began to elaborate...I guess he noticed the confused looks on our faces. "The swimmies will find their way. They will still swim." Was he referring to the hot tub story? Why does he keep moving his hand that way? All of these internal questions had me glancing around at the other females in the room for some sign of what to say next. It was all too strange from a man that accuses us of unlady-like behavior when we say "hell".

Not to mention, my best friend's younger brother was in the room and is in full-puberty mode. After this conversation, I sure hope his mom does not expect grandchildren.

Finally, my sister, who had been quiet through most of this process speaks up: "Can you please stop with the hand." At that point we could no longer hold in the awkwardness the conversation.

His attempt to showcase that he cared about our conversation, lives, and the decisions we make was completely overshadowed by that one solitary hand motion...and the fact that he was listening in on our gossip.

Now, it is an inside joke about "swimmies"; we never fail to use that hand motion.