by Jeffe KennedyNo, I'm not reading a sex scene to my folks, here. It's a poem I wrote for their wedding ceremony - my mom's third wedding, after being twice widowed. And yes, they totally asked me to write and read the poem for them.
I'm very blessed this way, in the support from my family. Not only has my mom always encouraged me, but so does Stepdad Dave.
So, do they read my very naughty books? (Sapphire and Petals & Thorns are both BDSM erotica and Feeding the Vampire is a very hot short. Speaking of which, Feeding the Vampire is up for Book of the Week here, if you feel like voting.)
Yes. Yes, they do.
I even dedicated Sapphire to them, because they were both so great about Petals and Thorns - talking it up to their friends, and never once acting like what I'd written was offensive in any way.
This makes my family unusual, I think.
My mom has always been very open about discussing sex or "making love," as she called it when I was growing up. She let me watch it in movies, because she always thought it was ridiculous to let kids see violence and not love. She told me that love-making is intense, powerful and full of joy, if you do it with the right person.
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
Enter Stepdad Dave, who is retired Air Force and far more conservative that us, in our frivolous party ways. But he's fit right in. My mom occasionally mentions that they bribe each other with offers of "unnatural sex." No, I have no idea what this entails.
There are some things even I don't want to know.
I think that's the key: openness without excessive detail. At least it works for us.
On a final note, this is an exciting week on Word Whores, as we are also opening up, expanding and adding our first MALE Word Whore!
Meet James R. Tuck.
He'll be our new Monday whore, so you'll be seeing a post from him tomorrow. We'll see if a man can be just as much of a Word Whore as we can.
Feel free to heckle.
Love the post (but love that dress even more! It's darling!!)
ReplyDeleteHa! Thanks, Dee. The dress is Adrianna Papell. It is a great dress - love to wear it.
ReplyDeleteMy mom reads my stories. Occasionally she contacts me to tell me that if I absolutely had to be so explicit, then I'd written the scenes well and she was happy they were an integral part of the story and not extra just for the sake of sex. Love my mom!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing and you look lovely, btw. ;) It's a wonderful thing to be able to share your stories with your parents and have them accept them so completely.
I love that, PJ - "if you just *have* to be so explicit, darling." She sounds just great!
ReplyDelete"She let me watch it [sex] in movies, because she always thought it was ridiculous to let kids see violence and not love."
ReplyDeleteYet another reason I <3 your mom.
So many reasons to love her, KAK!
ReplyDeleteI suspect your relationship with your mom is a rare one, Jeffe. And lovely. : )
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky, it's true!
ReplyDeleteI like the "open-ness without excessive detail" idea! Neither of my parents is still with us but I have the situation with my grown daughters, one of whom also writes - I don't read her sex scenes and she doesn't read mine! Enjoyed the post (and the dress IS lovely)!
ReplyDeleteVeronica - I can totally see that. All is in balance.
ReplyDeleteHow great that you have that kind of relationship with your mom. My mother and I never talked about sex when I was growing up (my sister gave me the deets). Somewhere along the way - maybe after my daughter was born - all the awkwardness went away. Now if I can just get rid of it with my own daughter (not mine - hers), everything will be fine.
ReplyDeleteGentle persistence, I think, B.E. Keep treating it as just another topic and she'll get there. I think it's great you're trying.
ReplyDeleteI was educated about sex by the book my grandmother lend to me. She was very much into really hot and detailed historical romances. I think she would have loved your stories.
ReplyDeleteI once let her read one of my stories (one of my first and in retrospect a really bad one), but she never told me what the thought of the story, she only pointed out all my grammar and spelling mistakes. That's what you get for letting a teacher read your story. ;-)
My grandmother read the hot and detailed historical romances, too! How funny. Your grandmother sounds like a gentle and loving soul. Pointing out only the grammar and spelling errors might have been the kindest thing at that point. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy Mother was really quiet about the sex scenes, but my Mother in Law called me to say "What secrets Have YOU been hiding from us?" LOL. I told her "I read a lot". LOL. My husband's family devours my books. Mine, not so much. They have a problem with that "somewhat" explicit sex. (On a scale of 1-10 I keep mine at about 7.)
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny, Teresa! And how great that you have a cool MIL.
ReplyDelete