It really should not be a surprise that my life is a sitcom. I am a distant relative of Lucille Ball, one of the greatest sit com stars of all time. So the distant cousin of Lucy, should not be shocked when his life turns into a a sitcom. But I am always amazed when my day starts out in a sitcom way.
The other day, I was rushing around to get out the door to work. All of the elements of a sitcom breakfast and kids off to school scene were in play. Kids not wanting to get up, check. The phrase, “five more minutes (of sleep) Dad” was uttered many times. Mind you that is really intended as the snooze button on the Daddy clock radio, not an actual request for 5 minutes more sleep, but as long as the Daddy snooze button works. Then again, Daddy hit the real snooze button so many times, he missed his morning workout.
Lame excuses and bad faking of illnesses, check. It’s a good thing they’ve not read any of the books like the “Hot Zone”, etc to learn about Ebola or they would have had that. Grumpy parents not wanting to deal with it any more, check. I believe something like “if you don’t get out the door now, I’m feeding your Nintendo DS’s to a wood chipper” may have slipped out of my mouth.
Crazy pet causing last minute chaos, check. Abby, our Lab mix, pound puppy was in rare form. She knocked things over. She pulled me down the stairs, heading down the drive way with the kids to their car pool pickup, causing me to have to jump from the third step from the bottom. Thankfully, I stuck the landing.
Cranky, overworked, spouse being sent off to work, check. In a rare development, Cheri had to run out the door without her morning ritual of prayer and centering. Usually, I’m the cranky spouse running out the door for work, but this day, Cheri got to play that role. But I was hurrying out the door behind her.
Then, the last element, the over the top slap stick event. I had packed my lunch, packed my backpack I use as a brief case, put it on my back and turned to leave the kitchen. As I took a few steps, there was a loud crashing, followed by the sound of objects rolling on the floor. Never a good sound, especially for someone to hear as they are now rushing out the door.
My backpack has a cord on it to pull tight a side compartment, and it had snagged the recently filled to the top, multi-level, metal and wicker fruit basket. It flew from the counter and crashed into the floor. The apples, pears, oranges and diet bars were now scattered all over the kitchen and I dare not leave it as the dog would eat it all up.
There were only two possible reactions, according to the model created by cousin Lucy. There was the over the top crying (RICKEEYYYY), or the over the top laughter. Thankfully, somewhere, the laughter won out. I laughed hysterically and then something unexpected happened, gratitude. I actually was thankful.
Thankful that I have a wonderful wife who could be cranky with me; thankful that we have produced two miniature versions of us, complete with not being morning people; thankful to have a pet who is well and energetic; Thankful for a job to be late for, for being my own boss so I would not face the wrath of a boss; thankful for a beautiful house and food; and even thankful that the prior occupant of the house, my niece, was not a great housekeeper and our kitchen floor was not pristine and going to show a scratch from this disaster.
Let me assure you, there are plenty of other times the reaction is Ricky, or in this case CHERI, but once in a while, it’s nice to get the laughter and thankful reaction. Thank you God for this sitcom called life.
Posts
