Probably the best definition you’ll ever hear of a bagel, and boring hate.

"What are bagels?"
our son asked.

His sister thought for one carefully-measured second:

- "They're like doughnuts, only they're healthier and they taste different."

(Is there a bagel place in Portland/Vancouver area that makes as good of bagels as Blue Star makes donuts?)

HATE PERFECTION; IT'S BORING.

There are a select number of words that are largely banned in our family; for different but sometimes overlapping reasons.

Perfect.
Boring.
Hate.

Nothing in and of themselves wrong about them; they are simply easy and powerful words to lazily reach for in describing any number of situations with a broad paintbrush. At best, they are prolifically used in cliche ways to oversimplify.

Yet...I have an affinity for those astute and imaginative enough to rip loopholes in draconian family laws such as this. So when my son, pajama-clad, looked up from drawing last night with a HUGE grin on his face, looked directly at me, and said,

"Daddy, I HATE slavery,"

then my only response could really be to roar with laughter and affirmation and say...

Me too.

A time for everything, including every banned word.