I Could Entertain Royalty

Me with a turtle.

Sometimes I wonder if a camera crew is following me around for good blooper material or maybe a writer for a situation comedy show. I do some of the stupidest and funniest things -- all by accident. I don't mind playing the fool occasionally, after all it was the jesters who came in and lifted the spirits of the kings and queens of yesteryear.  But, there's just got to be a limit.


We were camping over the weekend at the Drake Country Fairgrounds as we attended the 50th Annual Ohio Gourd Show -- tomorrow's entry will cover some of that adventure.  After a stop at the bathroom, I walked through the vendor's areas, past the outside show area, just around the gazebo where people were eating, all across the fairground to the other end of the camping facility.  I there greeting my husband, petted the two dogs and went inside our little camper. Once inside I flung myself onto the bed, ready for a rest.  Dave came in behind me and with a chuckle, removed the toilet paper tail I'd been showing off.  I thought they did that stuff only on comedy's.  Yes, this is my comedy.  You laugh or you cry and oftentimes you have to make that choice on a daily basis.


Once while I was in school, I was caught doing a row of cartwheels down a main hallway.  I came up and with a jolt stopped starring nose to nose with one of my favorite, albeit intimidating professors.  This was a man of impeccable manners and grooming.  Here was an example to emulate.  Without even a hint of a smile, but a barely perceptible twinkle in his eye, he told me that buffoons were needed in our line of work.  I do wish he'd picked a kinder word, but the idea, I decided, was a compliment.  The jester, the one who laughs and can make others laugh, is a much needed ability.

My mom!

Last July my mother and I went skydiving. My 73 year old mom, full of life and adventure, had just retired, and has been tackling all sorts of things she's wanted to do.  She is an amazing woman.  It's an awkward thing, watching your mom jump out of an airplane and gently fall to the earth. I made my jump after hers.  First my shoe got caught on the way out and we just hung there for an eternity.  The rest went well and I counted us lucky to be in one piece and feeling only little pain as a result of the ordeal.

About two weeks later, I was tidying up in the kitchen.  I lost my balance and for each of the three times I almost caught myself -- I heard a bone snap.  My x-rays look ghoulish as nine screws and a plate were added to assist in the healing and stability of my ankle. It still hurts and I may have trouble with the darned thing forever -- all for cleaning my kitchen.  Skydiving is safe, but cleaning the house is evidently quite dangerous and painful.

Perhaps my favorite foolish story of mine is when I took in a cat to be spayed.  The mama cat had recently given birth to a litter and we decided to keep the last two kittens. She was taken in for surgery and would have no more kittens.  One of the girls looked like a twin of her mother.  When the time came to take the kitten in to be spayed, I had a bit of a time catching her as she was a barn cat going through a ornery period.  I finally captured her and placed her in a crate to be taken to the vet the next morning.  Mid morning I received a call from the veterinary office.  They had anaesthetised the kitten, shaved her and at that point, realised it was the mama cat who was already spayed.  I laughed uproariously.

I'm afraid I have to admit that I do this stuff all the time.  Most of the time I can laugh at myself with utter abandon.  When I can't, I know I need to take a step back and regroup.  Laughter is one of the main ingredients of life.  I dare not think of life without that simple joy.  I love to laugh -- even if it's just at myself.