Yea, I Have A Colorful Vocabulary (NOT "I'M EASILY OFFENDED" SAFE)

My colorful vocabulary development began at an early age. My mom loves to tell the story of me at age 2 when I said "Fuck It" in front of her. After holding back her laughter, she looked down at me and sternly said "What did you say?" and without skipping a beat, I replied "Bucket". Got a free pass on that one, avoiding any hard time or punishment that could have resulted, due to my quick wit & rhyming abilities.

When mom and I drove somewhere, I'd use such phrases as "Shit", "Damn it!", or my favorite, "you dumb broad" in response to my witnessing a driver doing something stupid. Props to dad for these phrases.

I'm totally blaming my colorful vocabulary on heredity. Many members of my family, 2 generations thus far!, have the same colorful language gene. See, its not my fault! I was born this way!

I remember hearing a widow once, say she just wanted to use the F word. My response? Go for it! It's such a versatile word. Especially when you're a widow! I mean it can be: a noun (that fucker died on me), an adjective (losing a spouse fucking sucks!), an adverb (I cry every fucking day), used in the middle of a word thus creating your own word to accentuate feeling (Am I sad? Absofuckinglutely!), as well as expressing a range of emotions such as dismay (fuck it), confusion (what the fuck?), anger (fuck you), and yes, even happiness (this is fucking amazing). I told her there was no shame in saying it. See how it feels rolling off the tongue. After what you've been through? You deserve it! It made her feel better - as at that time - the F word was the only way she could completely package everything she was feeling into such a simplicity that everyone could understand.

One of the things I have embraced due to (and since) becoming a widow - that's been a blessing, my sliver lining in a storm cloud, my lemonade out of lemons - is that I really don't give a fuck. I spent 27 years trying to appease others. Always cautious of what I did or said, following others' leads instead of my own, for fear that I would offend someone, not be accepted, and/or lose approval. All the while sacrificing who I really was. Now days, I don't care who's offended by something I did/said/didn't do. I don't need others' approval or acceptance, I can put on my big girl panties and do it my damn self, and your judgement against my actions has no bearing on me. Life's too short, and mamby-pamby land is no place to live. So, if you feel so inclined to use the F word, in one of its many versatile forms, to express any array of emotions, situations, or circumstances, I say FUCK YEA, USE IT!