Better to Laugh

How often do you ask for a box at a restaurant, only to leave it on the table at the restaurant or in the back seat of the car when you get home?  Last night I stayed up late making chicken salad for a pitch-in at work.  After work, I took home the leftover chicken salad for my husband, only to leave it in the car.  I didn’t remember it until after I had cut the grass, made dinner, and loaded some new songs onto my iPod.  Darn.

We were driving along the interstate at night, when I saw some glowing dots by the side of the road.  As we passed, I saw four to five deer.  Now, there were acres of fields and trees in the middle of nowhere, but these dumb deer stood by the side of a busy highway ready to jump out and do thousands of dollars in damages to cars, not to mention meet their maker. 

My husband and I were eating at the park yesterday when we saw an overweight, elderly woman pull into the handicap parking space.  She got out, put her little dog in a doggie stroller, and proceeded to take a walk around the park trail.  Hmmmm…aren’t handicap tags/license plates for people who have difficulty walking far due to health reasons?  If you are going to walk around the park, walk another 20 feet and leave the handicap parking space for someone who actually has difficulty walking distances.

Sometimes it is hard to laugh, but it is exactly what we need.  My father-in-law, Dad, went home to the Lord last Sunday.  How fitting that he should go home on a Sunday so that he can worship with the Lord.  My heart is heavy because I miss him, but then there are moments that outright bring a hearty laugh. 

My son was trying to figure out with our other son what he should wear to the viewing, because he only had one good outfit.  My mother-in-law, Mom, yelled up the stairs, “Oh, are you going to wear what I am going to wear? I thought I would wear my birthday suit!”  The two boys looked at each other in shock of the visual, and then we all started laughing.  It was the first time in a week that I had heard Mom sound like herself.

Today was my first day back to school since leaving Saturday morning to be with the family in Wisconsin.  Also, the students had ISTEP standardized testing this week.  My PE class right after lunch came in kind of rambunctious.  I said, “Hey, what’s up with you guys?  You are kind of rowdy.”  One of the middle school boys said, in the most sincere way, “Sorry, Ms. Dawn.  We are kind of rusty; we haven’t been down to the gym all week.”

A friend at work got me into using dryer balls.  You put them in the dryer, they bounce around with your clothes, and the clothes come out mostly static free and soft.  Using them means you do not have to use liquid softener or dryer sheets.  I got a little concerned when I was running the other day, because my legs had a weird tingle on the outside of the thighs.  I started to wonder if the static from the dryer plus my thighs rubbing together could cause my compression shorts to catch fire.  The thought at least kept me distracted from my sore foot.