For some family vacations, we’d drive to visit my great-grandparents in Arkansas. Once, as we got close to their neighborhood, one of my parents guessed that Great-Grandma would have dinner ready for us. “No way; it’s too late.” “Are you kidding? She lives for this!” They argued for a minute, then bet each other a quarter.
A moment of calm passed. “Okay, if she cooked, what did she make?” “Navy bean soup.” “Beef stew.” They bet each other another quarter.
It turned out that they each won one of the bets. Instead of just calling it a wash, my parents actually traded quarters.
This story reminds me of how my mom and I sometimes disagree about the way a word should be pronounced until one of us looks it up in the dictionary. Almost every time, both pronunciations are listed. So now, when we disagree on something, I automatically assume that we’re both right.