We seem to be leaving a lot of this toxic garbage behind us, to the point that I think a lot of young people today don't even realize why "bastard" is a mild insult, or that it was at one time a deadly insult with life-changing consequences if actually true.

I had an epiphany about my own birth when I was in my mid-20s. I had always known I had been born premature, not hard to figure out when adding up the number of days between my parents' marriage and my birth.

Then one day I saw my birth records and noticed that I weighed almost 9 lbs at birth. I was at my grandmother's house at the time and I blurted out something like, ""My god, how could a premature baby weigh that much?"

Grandma snorted, rolled her eyes, then stared at me until the light bulb went off over my head.