MEMs Part 1: The date, the movie, and the peds. Or why I eat popcorn with a spoon

A MEM is a "most embarrassing moment."  We've all had them.  We'll all continue to have them.  The trick to getting through a MEM is having the ability to laugh at yourself.  This comes in especially handy when you're the only one laughing as it distracts others from whatever idiotic thing you've just done.  As you are living through the horror, just remember: This will make a great story someday... so here goes one of my real cheek burners:

Look to the left -- Remember those?  Those are peds.  They have them in shoe stores.  When you tried on shoes, they were supposed to be more hygenic than bare feet...

Well, long ago in a very distant land when I was young and single and carefree, I had a date.  A very nice boy (VNB) asked me out to a movie.  We were going to meet at the mall, and for once in my life, I actually got there early.  So early, I had time to shop beforehand.

I wandered through Macy's, trying on shoes. And here's the thing about peds:  You feel obligated to use them when you're in a store like Macy's, where there might be a shoe salesman who's lurking around, spying.  But, there is no place to put your used peds.  So, usually, they end up at the bottom of our purses.

This particular day that's exactly what I did.  And off I went to meet my future husband.  (well, he certainly could have been my future husband if it hadn't for this unfortunate incident.)  He bought our tickets for the movie and drinks and popcorn (he was a VNB), and we settled in to watch.

Now here's the thing about movie popcorn:  It's greasy.  And I'm a bit of freak about greasy or sticky hands.  I can spend all day looking at and feeling all the icky bits of the boy goats I judge, but can't stand it if my hands are sticky.  Anyway during the movie, the VNB leaned over and asked for a napkin.  I'd used them all.  So I offered him a Kleenex from my purse and the movie went on.

I actually don't recall much about the movie, or to be truthful, much about the VNB (I didn't marry him).  But I will never forget the look on his face and my gasp of horror when the lights went up.   We both realized I hadn't handed him a Kleenex from my purse at all --  he'd spent the last half of themovie wiping his face with my used PED!!!!