Black Squirrel

My mother was an English major. All my life I can remember both of my parents corrected my grammar. I am by no means perfect but because of them I am generally more aware of words and whether or not they are spoken correctly.

While they were watching the news, they often would correct the newsperson. For example, if someone said "It was just him and ME at the movies." They would say it should have been "It was just him and I at the movies." If you remove part of the sentence that refers to "him" then you would say "It was just I at the movies." "I was at the movies." If the comment was "he was riding his bike very slow." They would both at "ly" at the end of slow. Thus, the correct sentence would be "he was riding his bike very slowly."

Every now and then my mother would inadvertently slip and say something in correctly (note: the ly is at the end of correct - ha ha!). My dad would correct my mom. I would not say that it made her mad but it was a bit frustrating.

One day, revenge......no, getting even was sweet for my mom. My dad was telling a story about a black squirrel he had seen. He said "I saw a black squirrel driving down the road." Think about it......do you get it? A squirrel cannot drive. What he should have said was "While I was driving down the road I saw a black squirrel."

Mom was so happy. She had finally gotten my dad back. Ha ha, the laugh was on him.

So the next time you see a black squirrel driving down the road think about my parents.