My Many Mistakes

I make thousands of mistakes. Not just in my daily life — like the time I put a nail through my hand or like last night when I was washing a pan and the milk I was heating for hot chocolate boiled over onto the range that I had just cleaned. Multi-tasking, being preoccupied and constantly being in a hurry (not a good combination) are probably at the root of my “accidents.” I’ve run into a tree branch and a sign while running (still have the scar above my eye from that tree), and I’ve fallen down numerous times while running at Turkey Mountain. And I’m not going to even get in to the emotional damage I’ve probably done to my perfect children as a result of bad parenting. And then there are the hundreds of thousands of editing mistakes I’ve made in TulsaKids over the years. They jump out to mock me every month — the typos, the missed commas, the dropped words — they’re too numerous to mention. But, in case you haven’t seen the one in the November issue, I have to share it with you.

It could possibly be the most humorous error of all time. Well, perhaps I exaggerate, but it’s at least up there with the funny “auto-correct” smartphone errors.

Here it is. If you look on page 29 in our November issue, you’ll see three recipes. Under the Parmesan-Panko Chicken Tenders, go to #1 in the directions. It says, “Sprinkle children with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.”

Now, we don’t recommend cooking your children a la “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, or even sprinkling them with salt and pepper. But, can you think of a funnier mistake that anyone could make in a magazine for PARENTS?

I promise I didn’t leave it in on purpose. It was an honest mistake as all of my many, many, many, many mistakes are. Really. I’m doing the best I can, and I’ve never pretended to be perfect — far from it. The best I can do is keep a sense of humor. And apologize to my readers for the groaners I’ve missed over the years.