Crutches...

Encouraging Word:
Jesus replied, "You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Matthew 22:37

Well, I'm currently looking over Miss Ruby's wedding program and getting all excited. The planning of this wedding has had me on an emotional roller coaster. I can only imagine how much more so the bride has felt. But, it looks like it's smooth sailing from here on out. We work on some final finishing touches this weekend. I'm so excited, yet flustered...I haven't a THING to wear! If only I could walk in a sari with out undressing myself in the process.

As usual, I was listening to Joey and Heather on the way to work today. Some times they talk about the most inane things that crack me up! Today the subject was "crutch words." What's that, you ask? A crutch word is something you say all the time...as if it's some sort of crutch...but you don't notice that you say it. Sometimes it can even be a phrase. For instance, Heather said her crutch is "real quick." She often finds herself saying things like, "I'm gonna go to the store real quick." or "Let me watch this show real quick" or "I'm gonna eat lunch real quick."

Of course, this made me think about my own crutch words. The thing about crutch words is that you don't even really recognize them on yourself. For instance, my co-workers have told me that I say "actually" a lot. Actually, I never noticed saying it too much....Until I heard my 4 year old nephew saying it. Then I realized that maybe he got it from me.

I remember a girl in high school used to always say "thats and then." She said it together...just like that. For instance, she'd say something like, "I went to Target...thats and then...there was cute red shirt...thats and then...it was on sale for 10$." My friendship with her didn't last too long because I found conversations to be thats and then annoying.

Another person who had the crutch problem was this lady I used to work with. She used the crutch word almost to the point that I thought it was some form of Turrent's Syndrome. Her crutch was "whadda" as in "what a"...She would say things like..."the stapler whadda needs whadda staples whadda in whadda it whadda. Do you whadda know whadda they whadda are whadda?" I kid you not. Imagine having a conversation like that! Thankfully she has retired.

My brother...has a really annoying crutch. He always say "hey guy" when he's speaking to males....even males who are perfect strangers. I have told him that it makes him sound a little questionable in regards to his sexuality. But, it's a crutch he can't seem to shake. The Black Boo...aka Sheryl...has a weird crutch where she says things twice. If I'm talking to her on the phone and someone's on her other line, she'll say "Hold on, hold on." or if she's hanging up she'll say "Bye....Bye"..not "ByeBye" but "Bye *hard pause* Bye." Nothing drives me more nuts! I mean seriously...I heard her the first time! My sister...who will probably kill me for writing this...has a few annoying ones too. First, she uses the word "freaking" entirely way too much. Secondly, she uses too many pronouns. We may have a conversation about Bob down the street. Then, an hour later, after we've discussed sixteen other things and people, she'll say some random comment like..."he has a nice lawn." Who the hell is he? Matty has a crutch too...he says "So what else, Susan?" all the time. Either I'm incredibly boring...and not much of a conversationalist...or he needs new crutch words. I'm sure there are a zillion people with a zillion more crutches that I could think of...but for now, that's all I've got. What's your crutch?