"Definitely gifted."

"Definitely gifted!"

I spent fifth grade in a "gifted" program. Being labeled as gifted was comedy gold for my family. For the rest of my life, whenever I did something foolish, clumsy, or embarrassing, my family could look at each other and nod, "definitely gifted."

I'm finally reading Tayari Jones' The Untelling. I'm not very deep in but it's every bit as great as I guessed it would be and the mother in that book, with her very, very high expectations, has a phrase to shame and intimidate that leaves "definitely gifted" in the dust:

"That is not what Dr. King died for."

Oh wonderful! The pressure. The expectations. The delicious disproportion between an ordinary daughter's foibles and Dr. King. It speaks volumes, doesn't it?

Yay, Tayari! I feel like her stalker, reading all about the progress of the new book here as I read the old one, but this is stalking from a distance and for pleasure. Now she really is gifted....