During the summer of 1988, I had spent almost a week deep cleaning my kitchen, right down to rearranging the drawers. On the last day, I was relieved to have all of my cleaning done, when I was notified that I needed to make lunch/dinner for a bunch of hay men, including Kent. It was very hot and I was really tired, but made a good meal for the guys. As usual, I sat down to eat after the men had finished eating. They were still sitting at the table visiting and resting a while before they went back to the barn to finish loading the hay truck.

Kent walked over to my kitchen cabinet and was rummaging through my nicely arranged drawer. I watched for a few moments and finally snipped at him, "What are you looking for?" He told me he was just looking for something. Then, I snapped "I get very tired of you guys digging in my drawers." With not one moment's hesitation, he turned toward me, smiled real big and said "Mom, that was gross!” I was puzzled at first and never caught how my remark might have sounded to others. Then, the light bulb flashed, and the humor of what he had just said hit me. His quick wit and straight answer just about cracked me up.

As I looked around, I could see that the other guys, friends of our sons, were trying to contain themselves. They all burst out laughing when they decided it was safe to laugh. Wayne does not laugh hard often, but this was one time he did.

Our children were raised to be able to say what they felt as long as it was constructive and was courteous criticism. Kent’s witty reply was pushing it just a wee bit.