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Comedy Happens

I was due in traffic court at 9:30. This was my first traffic court with my first ticket. I was amazed that I wasn't nervous, as I came along side the court house and parked.

After my court appearance, leaving the building, I approached my car and noticed a ticket on my windshield. The ticket was telling me that I was parked the wrong direction. I studied the ticket for a moment and then looked around. Sure enough, I was parked in the wrong direction on the wrong side of the street. This street had been a one-way all my life and "they" had just made it a two-way. I felt so silly as I turned around and left.

Later that same day, I decided to go to my hair dresser's and buy some new shampoo. My teenage kids decided to come along. As I got out of my car I didn't quite lift my foot high enough to clear the curb that hugged the flower bed in front of the salon. I tripped and started to fall and, as I did, I tucked my head and rolled right under a bush. As I sat up, a large limb of the bush was hanging off the front of my head directly over my eyes. My kids were looking at me in amazement and asked me if I was OK. I asked, "No one is looking out the window, are they?" That was more than they could bear. They started to laugh and they laughed and they laughed. They laughed all the way over to their grandparents home, where they desperately tried to tell the story. My son said, "Mom, it looked like you had been practicing that move all your life!"

Laughter is one of the greatest gifts God has given us. I've raised my kids on it. We've learned to laugh when things are good and when things are hard.

I've been told that this is one of my best stories:

My husband, Curt, and I lived for a short time in Medford, Oregon, where the bank we used messed up our deposit slips and was depositing our money in someone else's account. You can see how bad this could be, so Curt called the bank to get this sorted out. I stood in the kitchen and watched him as he talked to the bank. As I listened, I put on some water to boil for tea and being very cold, I backed up to the burner to soak up a little heat. I had on a fringed top, and I came a little too close to the burner. Then all of a sudden I started to feel VERY warm. I became clear to me in short order that I was officially on fire.

What does one do when on fire? I started jumping around the kitchen, slapping at my back, which is very hard to do. I looked over at Curt, who was watching me with interest, but was still carrying on the conversation with Mr. Bank. He didn't say, "Excuse me, but MY WIFE IS ON FIRE!", or anything. He just kept talking like everything was NORMAL at our house.

I continued to jump and slap until I noticed a small amount of water in the kitchen sink. I quickly pulled my top off and threw it into the water. I made the noise fire makes when extinguished by water and sent a little puff of smoke into the air.
So there I was, in my underwear - unharmed - looking at Curt. He was looking at me. He finished his conversation, got off the phone and said nothing about the fact that I had been on fire or was now standing in the kitchen in my underwear.

So, what's the moral of this story? Whether you find yourself catching your toe on a curb or catching yourself on fire, STOP, DROP and ROLL with laughter.

Learn more about this author, Susan Crook.
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