Sex, Nudity and Adult Sorrow

From the title, you might think this is just another one of those self-referential posts I’ve been writing lately.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I was watching TV last week and just prior to the show starting there was one of those viewer advisories, which often say that the show may contain  violence or adult language.  However, this one was different.   The caption said that the show that was about to follow might contain:  “Sex, Nudity and Adult Sorrow”.  I swear this is true.  I’m not sure what show it was that  I was about to watch….it may have been The PBS News Hour or possibly, Californication.   I’m pretty sure it was one of those.

I was surprised at the effect the words themselves had on me.  Whoever made them up knew what he/she was doing.  They’re absolutely perfect.  Think if it…could there be a better word for “sex” than sex?  I think it has something to do with the “x”.  A letter that isn’t used that much; a bit exotic (there it is again); worth 8 points in Scrabble.  Really…..I can’t imagine any other set of letters that would convey the mystery, pleasure and intimate exchange involved in that act.  It conjures up, at least for me, an entire evening of flirting, touching, fantasizing and seduction.  (Often preceded by a nice meal)  God, I wish I had invented that word.

And then, “Nudity”.   Do I have to say more?  Just the word has me off envisioning naked bodies. Mostly…actually, only women’s bodies.  Honestly….and don’t repeat this….just the sight or sound  of the word  gets me hot.  My mind does some kind of somersault and I wind up in my teens looking at  my friend Natie’s Playboys.  How I miss those simple times.

I never knew that there was such a thing as “adult” sorrow.  But the distinction makes a lot of sense.   And really, if you think about it, it’s so much more serious than childish sorrow.  It just seems that, when you’re older, there’s so many more things that can go wrong and  so much less time to straighten them out.  And the word…oh, that word “sorrow”,  just saying it turns one’s mouth and lips into a frown.  Again,  whoever that genius was, he/she hit the nail on the head with this one.  “Sorrow”…say it two or three times and I bet you’ll start to tear up.  I know that I do.