At our first faculty meeting this semester, we were asked to do a show and tell about what we did over summer. One of the things I shared was this detail from a 14th century painting I saw in Verona. It was part of a series of art images I showed so I could make jokes about Catholicism being the template for horror and heavy metal. I made the joke that “sometimes I regret not having children, because they would be like these cute little guys with their pointed ears, cloven hooves and tails.” It was meant to be partially self effacing, partially insinuating that children = demons and most of all humorous. It got a reasonable laugh. Later on, one of the directors in my department, a cheerful, hippyish, grandmotherly woman approached me during a mixer with the graduate students and asked “l’m curious now, why you don’t have children? I think you’d be a wonderful dad!” I told her that it would “take a while to explain,” or something inane like that. Fortunately, she dropped it, but it made me feel uncomfortable... but stupid me, I totally opened that door. Anyway, I was just hoping to shake the awkward feeling I have right now, so thanks for letting me share.