dropping the kids off at the pool.

So yesterday at work I was having some stomach issues which let to multiple semi-productive restroom trips. On one of these trips I heard someone going into a neighboring stall exclaiming that they were about to drop the kids off at the pool. And that made me laugh because I remember first hearing that saying about a decade ago and thinking it was really a horrible euphemism. In fact, the first time I heard it, it was "drop the Cosby kids of at the pool." That was pretty offensive to me because while I understand poop is brown and Cosby kids are, well, brown and the Cosby reference may help this saying to have meaning and humor for white folks since they are not brown, and following that same logic, nor would their kids be, so they would have to be someone else's kids they were dropping off. I felt a certain racist twinge in comparing African-American children to stinky, brown poop. And it's amazing what sets off the bells in your mind of what feels offensive. Do I think it is better without the "Cosby" reference added, without the acknowledgement of color. Do I think it is appropriate to compare any kids to poop, as long as there is no denotation of race, natural origin, etc?

And come on, Cosby? It's like it as meant to be as disgustingly squeaky clean and safe a reference as possible. The Cosby show was about a white as white could be—manufactured and false; like seeing barbie offered in a darker shade but with all the same features---leaving African-American girls to wonder "how is this representative of me?" (Though what is the better option? Only offering white Barbie and promoting invisibility? Attempting to add full lips and bee-hind, encouraging a stereotypical representation?) Of course, the self image repercussions of Barbie on any child is a whole 'nother issue, a whole nother blog.
So coming to grips with the idea that I don't like the drop the kids of at the pool statement because it compares children (of any race) to stinky poo you are going to flush away, I start thinking that if my poop were my children, I would be dropping some of them off and some of them would be more inclined to stay at home and cause trouble. In fact some of them would be so ready for the pool we would barely get there before they wanted to take the plunge; but at least one of my kids would be hesitant, sticking his toe in and acclimating to the idea of swimming so slowly there would be a constant discomfort as he slinked into the water. Oh, and my country cousin was there too, She was pushing out in front of the boys, plopping on in. And my kids that were still at home, I imagined grumpy because I fed them an unhealthy dinner of Taco Bell, so if they wanted to stay home and complain instead of going to the pool, it was really my fault for not giving them proper nutrition. I created the behavior.
And shortly after that thought I realized what an absolute freak I am for over-thinking everything, and how even in this hypothetical hell, I still found a way to blame myself (of course I could correlate that to the guilt manufactured by the Taco Bell trip and overeating and how that fits into my identity growing up fat…but that's also another subject entirely.)
On the subject of overthinking, I recently heard the song "Missing" by Everything but the Girl, and I hate that song. It used to baffle me and I'd be at a club getting my groove on (this was nearly a decade ago) and feel confused by the song. It's the chorus "And I miss you - like the deserts miss the rain" that I can't put my mind around. At first thought, it seem as if the singer really misses someone---like an area as dry as the desert yearns for rain, craves the moisture—but I can't help to think that the deserts don't need that much rain to survive, and because it's so hot and dry, at times the rain evaporates before even hitting the surface. So really, does the song imply that the singer doesn't need the person in question, because she is built stronger than that? Or is the song set up to juxtapose missing, needing and wanting with a desert/rain metaphor?
Anyway, I could never get into it on the dance floor. I wasn't sure whether to think/feel, "I sure miss my ex and need to call her at 3am because I am yearning, like the deserts yearn for the smallest bit of rain that nourishes them through dryness." Or. "To hell with my ex, I miss her about as much as the desert misses rain—ha! like the desert needs much of that shit to survive."
AAAAHHHHH……Can I just turn off these spinning tapes in my head and not obsess, and get a little peace? That's the point I'm making here. I think I need to meditate, or medicate. Hmmpfht.