Slice of Life 2026: 18 of 31- Empathic farting

In March, Two Writing Teachers hosts the Slice of Life Story Challenge. Everyone is welcome to share writing and comment on others in this special community. 

Clare is my third of four daughters, and in case you're reading, and you've missed it, three of my four daughters slice with us during the month of March. Clare is currently living at home since she is between jobs and a PhD program. With two slicers under the same roof, we have a lot of giggles over what constitutes a slice. In fact, in her post yesterday, Clare allowed that she had slices out the wazoo. (And, she kind of does!) Clare's post yesterday was one of her funnier ones, relaying the catapult of her electric toothbrush into an unflushed toilet. If you're looking for a laugh, you'll find one there, both in the post and in the comments. 

She started the post giving me dibs on empathic farting. Hmmm. What you need to know is that the Meehans have a lot of diagnosed and undiagnosed GI issues. Therefore, the status of our colons is rarely undiscussed. We know who's gone, who hasn't gone, and how much they've gone. While we don't have a family group chat about it, we probably could. Someone is always ready to talk about how much or little Miralax they need on a daily basis. 

Therefore, it should come as little surprise that people in our house own their farts and generally provide warning when the environmental smell is about to change. We tend to be quiet air polluters. My friends used to call them SBDs when I was in high school for silent but deadly. (Is that a thing? Or did we make it up? I'm not sure...)

The other day, Clare and I were driving home from New Hampshire, and it was raining. When she opened her window, I was a little surprised. 

"I farted," she said. 

Almost without awareness, so did I. 

"Seems like you've inspired my system to get going as well," I said, opening my window and getting wet. 

And thus, empathic farting entered the car, our language, and our world. May it not enter yours. 

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If you haven't found Larkin, Julia, and Clare, here they are. They are not educators, but they are funny, and they are good writers. I love connecting with them through writing when March rolls around.