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We were driving along when we passed a VW bug. Cute, but I hate them. You know the ritual. Whoever sees the VW first yells "slug-a-bug" and punches a sibling in the shoulder. When I was a kid it was always the tallest one who saw the bug first, and the shorter one paid in pain for having a poorer view. It's a game that's only fun when you're the one doing the punching. One kid laughs, one hurts. It's sanctioned violence, plain and simple.

Somehow the slug-a-bug ritual had taken it's ugly place in our family. Predictably, Ms. Pikachu almost always saw them first. "Slug-a-bug" and Trainboy takes a shot. Crap. Wanna swear, not going to swear. Really want to swear. The Wife tried to help Trainboy by spotting for him. We drove by the VW dealership. Don't look, don't look, please don't look. The wife sees them and says, "Hey look Trainboy." Ms. Pikachu sees first. Five VW bugs. "slug-a-bug!" pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. He's only five, but decided he was willing to fight it out with his twelve year-old sister. From his perspective slug-a-bug wasn't fair and it certainly hurt. The Wife separated the combatants, then I voiced my displeasure to the Wife.

She thought about it for awhile and declared, "Alright, from now on there's no slug-a-bug, it's hug-a-bug. If you see a bug you give someone a hug." One more reason I love her. Ms. Pikachu rolled her eyes like she was being asked to watch Teletubbies. Trainboy was all smiles. He likes the idea, his shoulder can heal. Oddly enough, he spots most of the bugs now. He's all hugs.

Publicserf