Most of us reaching a certain age in the journey of life find that past embarrassing moments have become entertainment for telling the grandchildren. I have certainly had more than my share of wanting to disappear or crawl under the carpet.

When I was young, odd as it seems I was quite shy. Don was always so up front that he thought it funny I could turn red-faced about the simplest thing. One of those moments has stayed very clear in my memory bank.

My younger sister, Mary, phoned one day inviting us for dinner on the coming Sunday and we accepted. She sounded very upbeat, saying she had something to tell me. I happily thought perhaps the promotion at work had come through.

Arriving at her front door on Sunday, we found a note taped to it reading, “Go on in, I’ll be back in about 15 minutes.” So we did.

The first place I headed for was the bathroom (when you’re pregnant, it becomes your favorite room). Opening the door and shutting it behind me, with quick steps I made way to the commode behind a dimpled glass wall.

“Awk!” I screeched, to see a man sitting on the throne thumbing through a magazine. He looked up and smiled.

Gulping “sorry,” I ran out yelling “There’s a man in the bathroom.” Don quickly went in to check. About that time, Mary came through the front door, and I whispered “There’s a weird man in your bathroom!” She looked at me and started laughing so hard.

“That’s Chuck — that’s what I wanted to tell,” she said. “We just became engaged.” She displayed her ring finger.

The two men walked into the living room, also laughing. I wanted to crawl under the sofa as Mary introduced me to Chuck. My face was burning. He smiled at me with a wink and said, “Jacque and I met earlier. We have become intimate friends.” Today, having developed a warped sense humor, I probably would say something like, “Hey, when you’re through leave the magazine for me,” and waved and left.

It just goes to show, age does have its compensations.

Another time was a birthday celebration for me on an Easter. We were living on the acres and sister Mary, her husband Chuck, and his brother Fred, came to spend the holiday weekend. They brought a specially made cake decorated with a cross and “Happy Birthday, Jacque” written on it in pretty pastel yellow and lavender colors. Of course, they just had to put all 35 candles on it.

About the time we were going to cut the cake, company came. Freddie Garrison of Hansville dropped in with his parents, whom we had never met, from Canada. We invited them for cake and coffee. The kids all made a fuss that mom had to blow out all the candles. I took a deep breath and prepared to blow all of them out to show the kids mom could still do it. I blew so hard that my new bottom bridge blew out too — right in the middle of the beautiful cake. There it sat, glistening and unappetizing. I was almost in shock.

There was a silence, then no one could hold it back any longer and started laughing like crazy. My face burned but I finally had to laugh too. Today, if it happened I would probably smile and say, “You know, that’s my piece,” and act like nothing happened. As I said, there is compensation in reaching a certain age and finding you just don’t give a damn.

Please remember the Kingston Food Bank with Easter on its way. Let’s make sure our families in need have enough to eat. Also, if you didn’t know, some of us are donating to a rent fund for the next year. The Redeemer Sunshine Ladies have already donated $1,000 from their last rummage sale to the fund.

Happy Easter and God bless all.

— Contact columnist Jacque Thornton at jacquejt@centurytel.net