Out of the mouths of my babes

This morning I awoke to seven text messages. Well, that and a bunch of LOUD birds, but I took care of them.

The test messages were in our family chat group from Darcy, written at 7:54 in the morning. She'd sent a picture of my cousin Jaimee's blog entry from three days prior. I'd already read the blog post, but I'm guessing it was on FB because my daughter doesn't read anyone's blog. At least she better not be reading someone besides her own mother!

The picture stated the blog title, A Simple Life, and the blog entry title, Out of the Mouths of Babes. Underneath the photo, Darcy had typed, "Plagiarism." 

I thought it warranted an exclamation point too, but apparently, she wasn't upset enough at someone stealing my blog title to add punctuation. But upset she was, nevertheless, or at least concerned enough to inform me of that shit was going down in our family. She knows it goes against everything taught to her by her English teacher grandmother, her English major mother, and by every English teacher she's ever had. It made my heart swell. My kid had my back!

Apparently, her sister did not because she responded first to the group.

Madison: "Why are you awake at this ungodly hour on a Saturday?"

Darcy: "I could ask you the same question."

Madison: "Work stuff. Touche."

Darcy: "Same."

And that was the end of the group text. 

The End! 

No discussion on the fact a relative was pilfering my blog titles. No indignation at the thought, the horror! No planning of repercussions or lawsuits. 

I suppose Darcy thought she'd done her duty, but I expected a little bit more--just a tad maybe, like a follow up from her sister.

Being a responsible parent, as well as having the back of my cousin and fellow blogger, I responded.

Me: "If you had bothered to read the entry, you would see that I was cited as the owner of the title. Every time she uses it. But thanks for having my back. Maybe I'll blog about it!"

And I used the exclamation point! Because it belonged there and because, damn skippy, I was blogging this sucker!

Full disclosure: My first thought after reading Darcy's plagiarism comment was exactly the same as Madison's response. What was she doing awake? That led to my second thought, which was precisely Darcy's response. Why was Madison awake? My last thought was of this blog. But what's the fun in that?