Family stories...still making me smile

As I mentioned in a previous blog, family stories can be a treasure trove of inspiration for stories to write. It can also be a great source of characters, jokes, and memorable lines. Outside of writing, they can also be a source of personal inspiration or laughter, both of which are things that we all need. One of my biggest sources of inspiration and laughter is my son, Joe. He has such a unique way of looking at the world, can be so matter-of-fact, and is so unpredictable that you cannot know him without learning things from him. Here are a few brief glimpses at stories that can only come from a child. Joe showed me an assignment that he had completed at school. It contained sentences that had to be completed by the students. One of the sentences caught my eye. The sentence was "Sometimes I feel ______." Joe filled in the blank with the word "small." As a parent, reading this bothered me.

"Joe, what do you mean that sometimes you feel small."

Joe gave me 'the look.' He has this incredible ability to look at you as if he is asking why you don't already know. "Daddy," he replied in the accompanying know-everything voice, "it's a big world." At least he didn't add the word "duh" to the end of his sentence. I stopped being bothered.

Joe also has a remarkable way of being able to entertain himself. When he was about three or four years old, he went to visit his grandparents in another state. I picked him and my wife up at the airport and started driving them home. Partway home, it occurred to me that my poor son had been stuck in his car seat for untold hours and was probably bored out of his mind. I thought I would strike up a conversation and maybe sing a song with him to brighten things up. I glanced in the mirror to begin that conversation, but realized I was too late. He had begun a conversation of his own. He held both of his hands up like puppets, and he had them talking to each other.

"You talk a lot," stated Character 1.

"Yes I do," replied Character 2.

"You talk a lot," said Character 1 more strenuously.

"Yes I do," replied Character 2 in the same calm voice.

"You talk a lot!" Character 1 shouted.

"Yes I do," Character 2 continued in the same calm voice once again.

This exact conversation continued for ten minutes down the interstate while my wife and I listened in amused confusion. Later that day, I walked up to Joe, made my hand into a puppet, and said, "Hey Joe! You talk a lot!" He looked at me like I had lost my mind. I just nodded and walked away.

This all just barely scratches the surface of the wonder of my child...or any child, to be honest. So what stories make you smile?

Family stories...such a gold mine!

A few years before she passed away, my grandmother came up to me and, in a very serious voice, asked, "Chris, are you telling your students stories about me?" I wasn't about to lie to my grandmother, so I admitted, "Yes, Memaw, I am."

Bouncing a little bit like an excited child, she replied, "Good! As long as someone's talking about me!"

My family, like everyone else's, is a treasure trove of amusing stories. Telling these stories not only brings laughter and smiles, but help keep the memories alive of those not with us anymore, and even those that still are. I always tell these stories out of respect, because my family has a sense of humor, especially about themselves. I'm going to share my favorite example with you:

Many years ago, my parents, grandparents, sister, and I went camping at a nearby state park. It was getting late into the afternoon when my grandmother (we called her Memaw) approached me and my sister. "Hey, kids, do you want to go into town and get supper with me?"

My sister and I knew exactly where she was going: Wendy's. She was obsessed with Wendy's. I like the place, but I mean that Memaw was truly obsessed. She wrote a "Thank You" letter to Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's, for creating the 99 cent value menu! Of course, our other option was to let my father cook supper. He wasn't bad, but when he tried to use the table-top grill to cook lunch that day, he nearly caught the woods on fire. In the interest of public safety, we agreed and hopped in the car to go to Wendy's with Memaw.

There was a routine to going out to eat with Memaw. When you went through the drive-thru, you were allowed to order anything you wanted as long as it was on the value menu. I ordered a junior bacon cheeseburger, biggie fries, and biggie drink (this was a long time ago when those were still on the value menu!). My sister ordered the same thing. My grandmother ordered the same thing plus an order of chili, chips, and cheese. We pulled around to the window to receive our order and thanked Memaw for the food.

I should have known that things were going to be weird when Memaw started checking her rearview mirror. When she confirmed that there was no one behind her, she shut off her engine and proceeded to get out her food...still sitting in front of the drive-thru window. My sister and I looked at each other in horror. Surely, she didn't intend to eat here at the window? It got worse, because the first thing that she pulled out of the bag to eat was the chili, chips, and cheese. Chili, chips, and cheese was exactly what it sounded like, but the drive-thru orders came in a plastic box. Because of this, there was always melted cheese stuck to the clear plastic container, and my grandmother wasn't about to let this go to waste. As we stared on in disbelief, Memaw began licking the cheese off of the plastic container. The man at the window, who looked like he was about to say something, had to turn away laughing.

My sister was never one to be scared of speaking up. "Memaw, let's go," she pleaded.

Memaw double-checked her rearview mirror. "There's nobody behind me." She punctuated this with slurp, slurp of more cheese off of the container.

I looked into the window and saw employees in the kitchen beginning to look out the window and laugh hysterically. "Seriously, Memaw, you need to pull up," my sister said more insistently.

"I'm not hurting anybody!" Slurp, slurp. I was starting to shrink down lower into the back seat.

At this point I looked into the window and was horrified by what I saw. The people in line to order food inside the restaurant could see the drive-thru window. The were literally falling down laughing and people were crowding the counter to see what was going on. Memaw, oblivious to the idea of embarrassment, continued to slurp the cheese off of the plastic container lid. I could almost hear the voiceover from some wildlife documentary describing the eating habits of Memaws in the wild. "Pull up or I am getting out!" my sister finally shouted.

"Fine!" Memaw replied, frustrated. She started the car, put it in gear, pulled up about ten yards, then stopped the car again and returned to eating. I looked out of the back of the car and saw the Wendy's worker lean out of the drive-thru window to see if we'd left. When he saw our car not ten yards away he started laughing again and closed the window.

I never went back to that Wendy's, just in case they would recognize me.

Smile, Memaw. I'm still talking about you, and I still admire your ability to not let things embarrass you. I think I inherited some of the trait when I walked through the Wendy's drive-thru in college with my girlfriend. Hey, I didn't want to lose my parking space!

Featured image courtesy of Joe Slater

Parenting fashion fail....

I just had to share this parenting moment. It is one of those moments when you shake your head in confusion and laugh hysterically inside. We called my son downstairs after we had sent him up there to get dressed. He came downstairs wearing an outfit that I had to stare at for several seconds before I could figure out what it consisted of. There was a button down dress shirt, a clip on tie that was on crooked and incorrectly, and black and neon green exercise pants. It doesn't matter who you are, these fashion statements certainly remind you of the joys of being a parent. No matter what is going on, you never know when your kid is going to make you smile.

Cut paper with scissors...and laugh!

Several years ago, my principal sent a video to the faculty to help us start the day with a smile. The video was a simple one in which a baby is sitting up and is being handed pieces of paper. The baby would tear the paper and then laugh with such glee that you can't help but join in. I've watched the video hundreds of times over the years and I still love it. The baby finds such joy in something as commonplace as ripping paper. I have watched my son find the same simple pleasure with scissors and paper. He can spend long periods of time making cuts in pieces of paper with a pair of scissors. He loves it. It actually became a problem. We had to lock up the scissors in the house so he wouldn't cut up all the paper in the house! I watched the video of the baby today and thought about the joy my son can find in cutting paper. Have we lost that ability to find simple pleasure like that as we've become adults? I will go ahead and answer that question. We can certainly still find the simple pleasures as adults. Two words: bubble wrap. I have had to separate some friends when they were arguing over who was going to get the bubble wrap from a package. For me, it is the perforated spiral-bound notebook paper. Whenever students turn in assignments with that perforated paper, I can't not tear off the ragged edge at the perforation. I don't know why I enjoy that, but I do. Yes, we adults can still find the simple pleasures.

What I think that we can't find is appreciation of those simple pleasures. Sure, we will pop the bubble wrap or tear off the ragged edge of the paper or dissolve the Styrofoam peanuts or whatever brings you that simple pleasure. What we no longer seem to be able to do as adults is carry the joy from that action beyond the moment. We can pop those bubbles and feel that stress relief, but then we step right back into our office or get out our phone and turn the stress meter right back up. I am as guilty, if not more guilty, than most. I'm not like my son who can walk away from cutting a piece of paper with a big smile on my face. Even when I am finding some joy in a simple action, I often don't allow that joy to take control of my emotions enough to smile. I think that we all miss out because of this.

Grab a piece of paper and some scissors. Mix some baking soda and vinegar. Draw a funny stick figure. Whatever it is you do, don't be like me. Let that joy show on your face. Giggle like that baby and make your day, and the day of everyone around you, that much better.

Here is a video similar to the one I mentioned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc

Why not watch it and then share what your simple pleasure is?