Words, Words, Words!

I am starting to hate the three little words that I have been hearing a lot  in my house lately. Those words are "I don't know." These three words have very different meanings for the family who lives here, my family. When I am trying to get an answer from my son that I know he knows but he doesn't want me to know he will say  I don't know. Then after a while he will tell me what I knew he knew all the time. When my nephew says it he is trying to avoid the answer to the question. When my brother says it he really and truly doesn't know. But, when my mom says it for her it is a pain, more then likely a pain she is having with her muscle in her back. When it hurts I have noticed that the first words out of her mouth are I don't know and then I know she needs some Tylenol and some icy hot to be rubbed in that muscle. Sometimes it is another pain like a headache but usually I can tell the difference between the two. When the side effects from the meds make her dizzy then she will say she can't. I know then that she is dizzy and needs help getting up from the chair or the bed. 

For the past week I think I have heard "I don't know" from everyone at least ten times or more a piece. Which in turn has basically stopped me from saying it unless I truly don't know something and on those times I do make a serious effort to find out what the answer is. For example I didn't know why the Chinese food that was delivered a couple of weeks ago didn't have the chicken I ordered but some shrimp. I looked after the delivery person left of course and I didn't know how they messed up my order. And when my son asked me a question about why something in space was the way it was I didn't know so we looked it up together. 

The words "I don't know" have taken on a new meaning to me now. And possibly the words "I can't" I try to avoid saying those words too.