Pardon Me

Fio is queen of the faux pas. Yes, she's taken enough false steps to supply a sit-com with material for years. She started at about age eight, greeting her fecund aunt, whom she hadn't seen in a year, by asking if she was pregnant again. This was back in the day when one never talked about such things.

Progressing onward, when she was about ten, Fio stared at her mother's face assessingly for a while, then announced to Mom that she must have been pretty when she was young. Fiorella's mother, not yet forty, graciously said thank you.

There have been more blunders along the way, but the one that stands out in recent years was when Fio met historical romance author Victoria Alexander and enthused about how thrilled she had been to see her walking across the stage at the national conference because then Fio realized heavy women also could be romance writers. Ms. Alexander avoided Fio for the rest of the evening.

Sometimes it's safer that way.

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