Embarassing Moment #2,236,598

The year was 2001.  My husband and I had just moved back to the mountain, and we were renting a little house in town.  A very nice Hispanic family lived next door, and I was looking forward to meeting them. 

Our neighbor on the other side was an elderly gentleman who would chat with us over the fence.  While conversing with him one day, he asked us if we'd met the brown family next door.  I thought it was a bit odd that he called them that,but I just remained quiet and gave my husband "the look".  You know... the one that says, "I can't believe he just said that!"

A few days later, my husband disappeared for a while, and when he returned, we had the following conversation:

ME: "Hey, where have you been?"

HIM: "Oh, I was just talking to the brown family next door."

ME: *GASP* "What did you say?"

HIM: "I said I was just talking to the brown family next door."

I immediately slugged him in the arm as hard as I could!!! Then I said the following thing:

ME: "That is the most racist thing I've ever heard you say! How are we going to make friends when you go around calling Hispanic people "the browns"???"

HIM: *BUSTING A GUT FROM LAUGHING* "Noooo. You've got it all wrong! Their last name is Brown! I wasn't referring to their skin color! I was just repeating their last name!"

ME: "Ohhhhhh, right.  The B-R-O-W-N family. HaHaHaHaHa!!!"

I felt so horrible for jumping to conclusions! How could I have thought something like that about my husband? How could I have thought the sweet old man next door was a racist, too?

The Brown's were such a nice family!

 We moved from that house shortly after the incident, but we still see the "Brown's" from time to time around town.  We can't help but chuckle every time we run into them because of my little "misunderstanding".

We have trouble remembering their first names after all of these years, but we will NEVER forget their last name.

Ever.