While walking home from work today I remembered a story from my youth that I wish to share with you all in order to illustrate just how crazy my mother is.

I went to a friend's sleepover birthday party when I was about 8 years old. We decorated plain white T-shirts with puffy paint in the evening. Among other 8-year old decorations like flowers and hearts and stars I put a peace sign. I love New Kids on the Block at the time and Donnie Walberg always wore a gold peace sign medalion.

The next morning I went home wearing the shirt I had made the night before that I was very proud of. I asked my mom if she liked it and she pointed to the peace sign and said: "Do you know what that is?" I replied that it was a peace sign. She said: "Do you know what it means?" "No" I answered. Then my mom said something like, "It means that you don't respect authority and you don't love your parents." WHA? Then, when I got upset about it and wanted to change my shirt she wouldn't let me and made me wear the shirt all day. I was so scared that people would think that I hated my parents that I covered the peace sign with my hands the whole day.

To this day I'm not wild about peace signs.