123. Spiderman’s Gut

 This Okay listener shares how her husband got the best backhanded compliment from a child during the Halloween season.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

INTRO MUSIC

​I’m Nora McInerny and this is it’s going to be okay. 

Our podcast is a group project. Every day we are trying to bring you the opposite of a doom score. Every day, we are trying to bring you the opposite of a doom scroll. We are doing our best to put a little bit of okay. Into your day. And sometimes. Sometimes that means that my team and I are finding the okay thing and recording it or writing about it. But a lot of times, The okay. Things come from you. Like this voicemail that we got recently. 

Okay Listener:  Hi, my name is Lisa. I’m from Kyle, Texas, and I wanted to tell the quick story of my husband who went to a Halloween party as Peter B. Parker, a. k. a. the, uh, Little more down on his luck, uh, Spider Man from Spider Man Into the Spider Verse. Everyone should see that as a sequel that is now out across the Spider Verse.

Anyways, the whole point is that this Peter Parker is not your Hollywood sparkly blonde haired perfect Spider Man. He’s, uh, got a bit of a gut on him. He’s had some rough things in his life. He’s been through a divorce and my husband Dressed up as him for this Halloween party, and we all know how, uh, just very blunt kids are.

Kids do not lie unless it’s, you know, to get something, but they’ll never lie to your face about something like your appearance. And my friend’s daughter came up to my husband and said, You know, that’s a really nice costume, but your gut’s not big enough. You’re in better shape than he is. And my husband has held onto that with a vice grip for about three years now, maybe four.

Because of course, uh, you know. We all have a bit of a spare tire on the middle, especially now that we’re on two kids, but according to a little girl at Halloween party, he looks just fine and that’s good enough for us. Bye.

 But. Uh, when is a win. Uh, when is a when and if a child looks you up and down at Halloween, 

And says to you. Your gut is not quite big enough to be the down on your luck. Spider-Man. The slightly shabby Spiderman played impeccably by Jake Johnson. If a kid tells you your guts, not vague enough, otherwise you’d make a pretty convincing. This is a win. This is a win and Lisa, I do not blame your husband. For holding on to that compliment with both hands and possibly, uh, uh, very strong lock. There is a magic to being a person who. Is nearly humbled by a little kid and instead says, I’m going to focus on the part of that sentence that I liked. And I’m going to hold on to it. You got to hold onto it. You got to hold on to any small thing. That makes you feel good about yourself? 

That’s good enough for me. I’ve heard a lot of people say a win is a win.  A win is a win doesn’t matter how it happens. Doesn’t matter if it’s sort of a backhanded compliment from a small child. Who is saying your costume is adequate. And so is your body. You got to take it. You got to take the compliments, take the wins when and where you can get them.

I’m Nora McInerny. It’s going to be okay.

OUTRO MUSIC 

CREDITS