Dips

I knew it was going to be one of those days when it took me three tries to get my underwear on right. I'm not sure why it matters, except it's the same line of reasoning as wearing clean underwear. If I have an accident, I don't want the EMT to think I'm a dork.

So then I started thinking about all the reasons I am a dork. 

The first was a recent conversation where I brought up the fact that one side of my body stinks more than the other side. Seriously, my one armpit grows hair faster and smells worse than the other side. I think that's weird, but obviously not as weird as bringing it up in conversation. I'm slightly fascinated by whether this is true for everyone, but I did pick up on the social cues I shouldn't bring it up again.

The second is that I had to look up the etymology for dork to see if that is an accurate word for me. It's not. It means penis along with nearly every other slang word we use. They all boil down to penis.

So, then I had to look up my mother's term of endearment for me growing up and one that I often use lovingly with my children, "dipshit." 

You'll be happy to know that dipshit is the emphatic form of dip unlike the softened dipstick, which means penis. Naturally.

But, here's what I really love about looking up the etymology. Right there by dipshit is dip, "to baptize." 

dip (v.) 

Old English dyppan "immerse, baptize by immersion," from Proto-Germanic *duppjan (source also of Old Norse deypa "to dip," Danish døbe "to baptize," Old Frisian depa, Dutch dopen, German taufen, Gothic daupjan "to baptize"), related to Old English diepan "immerse, dip," and perhaps ultimately to deep. As a noun, from 1590s. Sense of "downward slope" is 1708. Meaning "sweet sauce for pudding, etc." first recorded 1825.

dip (n.) 

"stupid person, eccentric person," 1920s slang, perhaps a back-formation from dippy. "Dipshit is an emphatic form of dip (2); dipstick may be a euphemism or may reflect putative dipstick 'penis' " [DAS].

I will be the first to admit that I have stupid moments. Wow.  A whole slew of them just came washing over me like the time I tried to set a girl up with her ex-fiance without knowing it was her ex-fiance. 

I also have my eccentric moments when I look at the world and make observations out loud that others might miss. I'm not nearly as eccentric as men's body wash, but the fact that I read the labels on men's body wash makes me close.

But, ultimately, my identity is in my baptism. I am a dip. I am a beloved child of God who can trust in that love enough to live boldly, make mistakes, ask for forgiveness, and keep trying to put my underwear on until I get it right.