"I Should Have Listened to You in the First Place"

I don't like to give advice -- unless asked -- mainly because I don't like to receive advice unless I ask. And I rarely ask. So especially now that my kids are grown, I try to resist putting in my two cents about things that don't concern me. Tonight I am at my son's house, along with my ex-husband and our granddaughters. I suppose that may seem weird to some people, but at this point we have been divorced slightly longer than we were married and it's oddly okay. Anyway, my son decided he was going to try out an appetizer recipe, buffalo chicken dip. It came out great, a little rich for my taste, but it was good.

Since my son is a new cat owner -- my middle son and his girlfriend gave my oldest son and his family a kitten for Christmas, after discussing it with him and making sure it was okay -- I offered an opinion: Don't leave the dip on the kitchen table; the kitten might get into it. (She has jumped onto the table once or twice.) The table is in view of the living room, so my son said he would keep an eye on both the dip and the kitten. That worked for awhile but then we all got distracted by other things, and I looked over to see the kitten near the dip. I chased the cat away. As I got closer, I noticed two big holes in the dip, which I told my son were either "steps or eats", neither being good for the kitty or the dip. And my son uttered the words of my title. I didn't say anything.