Open mouth, insert foot...

So for all of you who know me, you know that I blush at the drop of a hat. And it's not just a mild sort of blush. It's bright-fire-engine-red blushing, the kind where you can feel the heat radiating off my face from 10 feet away, and there's no way that I can stop it once it starts.

Well, yesterday, that lovely feature of mine kicked in at exactly the wrong time, and I wanted to just curl up and die. we were having a staff Birthday party, for all the people in the Athletic Department who had Birthdays in September. And we were all packed in around the table in the Conference Room, eating and talking, when the conversation took a very interesting turn...Somehow, someone started talking about taking their spouse on a romantic night out, and when we asked what the plan was, they said, "We're going parking!" Which, of course, sent everyone into peals of hysterical laughter, and then they started debating where they should park...At which point, I can't believe that this is happening at a staff party, but I think it's pretty funny, so I keep my mouth shut and keep listening and laughing. But then someone had to ask the question, "Do people even GO parking anymore? It seems like it's something we used to do back in the day, but hasn't the world moved beyond parking by now?" And, as the youngest person in the room, all eyes were on me to say whether parking was a thing of the past or a thing of the present. So I try to answer as coolly as possible, "No, I'm pretty sure people still go parking. Or so I've heard." And that was all it took - my face was steaming before I was even done saying the words. So of course everyone jumped on me after that, and now they were all curious as to what the local hotspots were - they said it was so they could go there with their spouses, but I just think they wanted to bust people and see their expressions when a professor or coach pulled in next to them! :) And nothing I could say would dissuade them from thinking that every word that came out of my mouth after that was based on my own experience. And even though I answered truthfully when I said I had heard that the Lattice Bridge was a popular spot, and Wiscoy, and the Field of Dreams, and the haunted house off of Short Tract, and pretty much any parking lot on campus, but had never gone parking at any of those places myself, only known people who had, there's no way that they would believe me. Because my face was about the same shade as a ripe plum by then. And even though I was telling the truth, my face didn't look like it. (Stupid redheaded complexion!) I was so mortified, I almost didn't want to show up to work this morning...The good thing is, most people around here have a pretty short memory! :)

EDIT: Maybe I should clarify that the Houghton College version of parking, while still quite popular, is a modified version of the traditional parking, that as far as I know involves only making out, and not the whole nine yards.