I found out that a person who ran a storytelling show complained to the curator who invited me about my story.

The part she didn’t like? That I said “vagina.”

This is a family show, she told my curator friend. Everyone loved the story, my friend replied. We don’t want that kind of language at our show, the producer iterated.

Wow. Just wow. Since when is a body part a bad word? And not that it needs any justification, but I used the word “vagina” within a description of intense desire for the person I’ve been married to for decades. Like, I coulda just said, “I hella wanted to fuck this dude up and down the block.” But no, I got creative, I intimated how my heart and my sex organs worked together to create a powerful sensation of having met my soulmate (something I don’t believe in, btw). It’s a very sweet, loving—and, something I’ve never thought I’d want to underscore, family-friendly—story!

It just happens to have the word “vagina” in it.

AND VAGINA IS NOT A BAD WORD!