For your laughing pleasure

I am trying to spend much of my "living with the bears" time this week deeply immersed in my dissertation study. It may come as some surprise, then, that I found it suddenly Very Important to go through and organize my computer. It was urgent. Trust me. No work could happen until the computer was thoroughly explored and diligently tidied. (My mom calls this productive neglect. I'm a champion productive neglecter. Ain't nobody got time for that!)

Along the way I unearthed an old bookmark folder of Things I Found Funny Once Upon A Time. Come time travel with me to enjoy some good old online laughs from the past few years:

1. A spoof of Ken Burns documentaries: The Vowels

2. A local horse herpes outbreak forced the Utah rodeo circuit to substitute the usual ponies with stick horses. Seriously. (I can't post the video clip here but please click over for a ridiculously awesome news story.)

3. An internet musical sensation, Web Site Story:

4. A favorite Aussie ad:

5. And, finally, the old classic Facebook in Real Life:

What are your favorite online laughs? 

Keystone parents

It's been such a heavy week in the news around the world. With news this morning of more frightening events in Boston, I was reluctant to post this lighthearted Friday post. Boston's my adopted hometown (and my kids consider it home) and we feel so very far away from our friends and loved ones right now. The T is closed, schools and businesses are closed. Hundreds of police officers are swarming the area and everyone is staying inside. It's surreal.

And then I thought maybe a laugh isn't so bad in times like this. So here you go. Everybody stay safe out there.

Sometimes I'm worried about who's minding the nest around here. Here's a little story from my parenting past for you to enjoy as you head in to the weekend. 

It was one of those weekend evenings where everyone in the house was headed for different activities:  G and Maddy to her basketball practice, Lauren at a school dance, Sam here with me.  Later G and I headed to a movie and Maddy and Sam stayed home together.

When we got home just before 11 all the lights in the house were ablaze.  (Maddy does that when she babysits.)  We checked in on Maddy in her bedroom, kissed her good night, and headed to our room to read and wait for Lauren.

me:  What time does the dance end?

G:   Hmmm....I don't know. The usual 11?

me: Maybe this is something we should find out next time?

G:  Sounds good.

We read.

11:30  We text Lauren "when will you be home"?  No response, although she said she wouldn't have her phone with her during the dance so we're not too concerned. Maybe the dance goes until midnight? Didn't she say she didn't need a ride home?

We read.  I snooze a little and wake up "Isn't she home yet?"

12:15   We text her again.  "time to come home...when will you be here?"

 Still nothing.

It starts to be time to be worried.  Should we call her friends' parents? She was getting a ride home with A, right?  We debate calling A's parents 

This is so unlike her!  We haven't even had to talk about curfews yet.

We fret, we stew, we wait--confident in Lauren's good head on her shoulders but increasingly worried and puzzled.

1:00 (I know!)  Greg grabs his phone and heads downstairs to call around.  First he tries one more phone call to Lauren.

I start to envision walking through the streets and alleys, calling Lauren's name.  A sleepless night in a hospital waiting room.  Her face on a milk carton with one of those sketches of what she'd look like, 5 years older.  Oh, Lauren!

I'm really good at working up a good worry, can you tell?}

Bzzzzzzzzzt.  I hear a phone vibrating nearby so I get up to check it out. Maybe Lauren's finally calling us back.

Bzzzzzzzzzt.  It's coming from Lauren's room...what? Shoot! Did she leave her phone home?

Bzzzzzzzzzt.  I open the door to a drowsy Lauren fumbling to answer her phone.

Oh, hello!!

So she was home the whole time, got home from the dance before we got home from our movie.  G had looked in her room but it was dark and he didn't see her.  So, so funny. Yes, we waited up two hours for a daughter who was already home.

That's us, the keystone parents, reporting for duty...

The things we think we'll do differently

Oh, I love Kelly Corrigan. She's one of my patron saints of mid-stage motherhood--articulate, funny, real and true. Today she posted this on Facebook and I had to pass it along:

"So here's the thing: I was a kid once and when I was, I left wet towels on the floor, and rolled my eyes, and lost my homework, and pretended my ankle hurt so I didn't have to run in PE. I picked fights with my brothers and put empty cereal boxes back in the pantry and left the milk on very edge of the counter where it would undoubtedly be knocked over. I overreacted to my mother, ignored her, forgot her birthday, gave her the finger behind her back...so tell me, how could I be so appalled when it happens to me? A reminder lives below."