My middle child is pseudo mature in many respects- and one way she is, is through her taste in both music and television. With regards to television, one of her favorite shows was, The Office.

Now, a week ago I wrote how all she mumbled around the house was, “that’s what she said.” Whether I asked if she wanted to go outside and play ball, she’d reply, “that’s what she said.” No matter what I said- (“do you want something to eat?” “Do you want to play a game?” “Do you want something to eat?” “You need to shower- you smell”), she would respond with that annoying and highly inappropriate phrase.

The other day I was on a staff meeting Zoom when one of my colleagues mentioned that they would be attaching a link for us to view…

Person 1: So does anybody have anything else they’d like to add before we end our meeting?

Silence…

Person 1: ….Anybody? Well if that’s it……

Person 2: …. Actually, I have something I could share

Person 1: Ok, go ahead!

Person 2: I can show you all a link to something one of our other colleagues has done.

Silence …

Me: (laughing and mumbling to myself at the silence)  Oh, I thought he said he was going to put it in.

Now, it was as if nobody heard me- since there were blank stares so I continued to laugh to myself. I thought about my daughter, laughed even more, and without skipping a beat I added a “that’s what she said”.

13 Text messages and 4 emails later, I realized I was not on mute.