Tag: friendship

Thank God for humor! Right?

Sometimes I think my life is an episode of I Love Lucy. Just like Lucy, I often find myself in ridiculous moments.

One year for Christmas my youngest daughter made me a gift of a decorated jar, filled with 365 notes of encouragement, one for each day of the year. I love those handmade gifts! 

One note read: What would Lucy do? Don’t do that!

Yes, my children inherited my humor and ability to laugh at ourselves.

God gave us the gift of laughter. Life can be serious and we need the reprieve of some comic relief.

Years ago, there was a women’s conference and I wanted to go. It was a couple hours away drive and I thought it would be nice to have another lady (or two) ride with me. I asked my pastor if he knew anyone who might like to go with me.

Suddenly it became an event and I was appointed the one in charge of all the arrangements. It went from having a lady or two to ride with, to a couple van loads of women. It is never a straight drive from point A to point B with a bunch of women; especially when one woman has taken a fluid pill before departure.

With each bathroom stop, the fluid pill lady would run into a bathroom while the rest of us watched the clock tick. Of course I didn’t factor in the multiple bathroom breaks when leaving the church parking lot, so I had to make up the time on the highway so we wouldn’t be late.

“Uh, Stacey, the angels don’t fly past the speed limit!” Gotta love the side seat drivers. “Slow down!”

We finally arrive in the nick of time, and all the ladies pile out of the vans like circus clowns, making a mad dash to the entrance doors; leaving me, my aunt, and Nancy, behind.

Nancy was a dear friend and sweet woman. She was not in good health and was almost not going to come on the trip because she was worried her handicap would hinder her. I called the event in advance to be sure it would be handicap accessible and she would not have to climb any stairs to her seat. I really wanted Nancy to come with us because I believed it would be uplifting for her spirit. After some coaxing she agreed to come.

So there we are; myself, my aunt, and Nancy, lagging behind in the dust of the other women.

“You go ahead so you can get a seat.” Nancy said. “I will catch up.”

“Absolutely not! We are not leaving you.” My aunt and I assured her.

We made our way into the event and the ushers graciously led us to the special needs section, right up front, to the right of the stage. Turned out to be the best seats in the house!

The rest of the ladies were seated on the stage, behind where the speaker would be speaking. As we were taking our seats, the ladies waved to us, joyful to be on the stage seating. But, when the event began, it turned out they didn’t have good seating after all, they had to watch the speaker from behind. Turns out stage seating is not the best seating after all. There we are; us in the front row and them on the stage, watching us watch the speaker.

Halfway through the event I had to use the restroom, because I didn’t take the opportunity during one of our umpteen bathroom breaks on the road. Hey, someone had to keep the engine revving!

I, as inconspicuously as I could, duck down and creep out of the row, walk all the way to the back exit door of the sanctuary (it was a very large church), and made my way to the restroom. After I exit the sanctuary I hear something drop. I look down and it is a large paper sign:

Reserved for Special Needs  

Yep, when I sat down I didn’t remove the sign that was taped to the chair, and you guessed it…. it stuck to my bottom.

I laugh to myself, because at this point I didn’t think anyone saw this little blunder.

I get back to my seat and I whisper to my aunt, “You are never going to believe what happened.”

“We know! We know!” She say’s, laughing, tears rolling down her cheeks.

I look over to Nancy and she is laughing. All three of us trying to control ourselves in this most “spiritual” atmosphere. I look up to the stage and all the ladies are laughing too. They may not have been able to see the front of the speaker, but they sure did get a good view of my back side. Everyone saw me walking, dignified, through the sanctuary with a big ol’ sign stuck to my bottom.

The event was being video recorded and I often wonder what people must think of the ladies in the background of the stage, laughing until they cried, while the speaker was preaching to the audience. Maybe they would think the ladies had a touch of the Holy Ghost giggles.

To this day I look back on that trip with fondness and I laugh at the memory. (I will have to share the adventure of the ride home in another post.)

Yes, laughter is good medicine. We have to take a step back and just enjoy the moments, because those moments are what make memories.

Be Free & Stay Free