Jumping to Conclusions = Bad

(6/11/08)

Several years ago my parents gave Michael a subscription to Sports Illustrated Kids. He has always loved mail time (probably because my biggest outing when he was a baby was to the mailbox) and when he gets a magazine in the mail he is one happy camper. When Michael turned 14 he asked my parents to up his subscription from SI Kids to SI. I was uneasy about it for reasons beyond the swimsuit edition, but that was certainly a major concern.

So my folks cancelled SI Kids and ordered him SI; he has loved it. He is a huge basketball fan so the last few issues have been right up his alley. And for the most part I haven’t had too many complaints about inappropriate advertising or language. Now that he’s received a couple of copies I’ve stopped guarding him like a hawk and have let him have his magazine.

A few days ago he ran to get the mail and came back in with SI. As usual, Michael sat right down at the kitchen table to pour through it. I was upstairs changing sheets when I heard a gasp and Michael exclaim, “Oh my word, look at that bathing suit!” His words didn’t register until I heard Amy gasping and exclaiming her disbelief at a bathing suit. And then it hit me: they’re looking at Sports Illustrated!

In the 3.6 seconds it took me to fly down the stairs and into the kitchen I was mapping out a plan for Sean to talk to Michael about lusts of the flesh, and I was going to chat with Amy about modesty issues and the like. But when I rounded the corner and saw what they were looking at all my plans flew out the window.

Here’s the picture:

For the record, the picture was taken at a press release for the new Speedo suit. And to say we all had a good laugh is an understatement.