The Associated Press Reports

June 26, 2008, Raleigh, NC. The Associated Press reports: “Thanks to some text message-savvy grandchildren, North Carolina drivers whose license plates have the potentially offensive "WTF" letter combination can replace the tags for free.”

Now you have to understand that I am 48 years old, so I was almost 45 when the above made the news. I am just young enough to adapt to and use technology as it develops. However, I am just old enough to not be able to keep up. While I have friends and colleagues ten years older than myself who can create websites, use computer programming language and are quite tech-savvy there are those of us who use computers and technology as a tool. My philosophy is simple. It should just work. I can barely navigate Facebook so you can imagine that I rarely “text” (though I’m beginning to do more of it lately) let alone understand all the short-hand lingo of the era. I read the whole article off FoxNews.com several times and still did not understand what “WTF” meant. I asked my husband. Now that I know, I cannot get the phrase out of my head. It can be so useful.

My friend KMJ uses what my grandmother would call “colorful language” on her blog. But it is tasteful, in context and clearly expresses her current thoughts and feelings. She taught me a new word and I really like it. It starts with the letter “F.” It is so handy and descriptive.

I went through a lot during the first two years after diagnosis. Since then I’ve processed what happened and am moving into “acceptance.” There was very little anger, but when I think of all I went through from diagnosis, chemotherapy, radiation and then a second surgical biopsy I sometimes think: WTF.

Anger can be destructive. It can also be very powerful and wonderfully healing. WTF.

What fresh hell is this? – Dorothy Parker