The Lie I Told as a Kid that I Still Feel Guilty About
I think of this lie about once a month.
As I was reading Johnny Marks' post about How You Know When Your Family Dislikes Your Thanksgiving Cooking, it tells the excuses that people will give for not eating your food. The concept made me laugh because these excuses are just ways that we sugar-coat our true feelings about the meal. But calling them excuses is a way to sugar-coat what these phrases actually are... LIES!
Then the guilt seeped in. I, once again, thought about a lie I told as a child that still weighs on me to this day. When my brothers and I were younger, every year for our birthday, my grandpa and step-grandma took us to Burger King. Who ever was the "birthday-boy" had to wear the paper crown that is given out to the kids. This particular celebration was my birthday and after the fast-food meal, we were back at my grandparents house for cake and ice cream. They sang "Happy Birthday" and I blew out the candles. Then I found out that my grandma had made the cake herself and it was lemon cake with lemon frosting. The thing is... I HATE LEMON CAKE AND LEMON FROSTING. That's when the lie came out. I told her that I was so full from eating Burger King that I couldn't have any of the cake. Can you believe that? I turned down my own birthday cake. The look that fell on my grandma's face was HEARTBREAKING.
My grandma has since passed, and if she is reading this, I'm sure her response would be, "Pffft, get over it." But I still have the guilt from a lie I told over 20 years ago.