April Fool's

Living with a husband who is a life-long prankster and also 3 young children eager to learn tricks of the trade, April Fool's Day ranks right up there with the other major holdiays for my family. Walking through this day is like walking through a mine field - I never know what trick will be afoot next. Life can be unpredictable enough without April Fool's Day to contend with.

Before 8 a.m. I had witnessed an older sibling drink (and spit out all over the table) water that my five year old had salted. At the same time, the same 5 year old was on a frustrating search for her clothes that had been removed from her closet. My shower was delayed while I searched for soap that had been hidden. And I laughed as I watched another child attempt to lift her backpack that had been loaded with 10 pounds of extra weight.

My older two children, having been apprenticed by their father - the master jokester - for over 10 years, are particularly savy with their tricks. Not to mention that they are hip to outside resources now. I was ready for the usual books in the pillow, and traps on the toilet, but the new one hit me hard. At 2 a.m., an unfamiliar alarm went off at full volume under my bed; an alarm that I had bought for my slow-to-get-up daughter years ago - an alarm that will not turn off unless you retrieve the pinwheel piece that flies off. (Payback is tough.)

As a woman who values sleep above many things, my immediate reaction was an urge to be angry. But as I jumped out of bed cursing, I heard my husband chuckle and say, "Good one!" Instantly, my perspective shifted. The same trick had befallen both of us. We had many choices in our reactions. I chose anger; he chose humor.

And so it is with all of life. The choice is always ours. At any moment we can choose differently. We can choose to find the humor in the mundande, the serious, and even the painful. Humor is always there for us, waving it's hand like an impatient child saying, "Pick me, pick me!"