The Lighter Side

What a lazy Sunday - but those are the best kind - right? I did get my lazy butt out of bed this morning and went to church... Rebecca went with me too, although I'm not sure she was too thrilled. She had a pissy attitude the whole time we were getting ready and while driving (ten minutes) to our church. On our way home she said she wasn't really upset about going to church but that her brother came in and said, "Rebecca, mom is calling you to get up" and then he went back and crawled into his bed and didn't come to church with us. I got it then... told her next time to go in and harass his behind!

I napped a little today, and read a little today, and watched a movie. Joshua did the dishes! Guess he figured he would atone for not showing for the church service - Jesus might not take it but I sure will (gee I sound sacrilegious today!). All in all it's been a wasted day, but hey, sometimes we need those...

We all know by now how much time Rebecca spends at the dance studio - don't we? I end up there too, waiting - and I do so mostly because the dance studio is in the next town and to drive her there and then drive home just to turn around and pick her up is an expensive deal. So I hang out and I read, or I chat with the other moms, or sometimes I doze... it's down time for me in a way... there is no television, no wireless access, it's down right primitive, but it also forces us to engage in those old timey activities like conversation and boy, do we come up with some good ones - we hear all the latest local gossip, we trade ideas and recipes, we laugh. Last week the funniest thing happened - and I'm not sure it will translate well into a blog entry but I'll give it a shot... I've been working on my Linus/Sally post and it's not quite ready yet so this is gonna have to do...

So last week there are four of us sitting on the couches in the lobby of the studio - doing what we do best - bitching. It's a rainy afternoon... fall is in full swing and while we're sitting in the lobby a boy comes in from outside, a brother to one of the dancers, and he walks up to Tina and he says, "Ms. Tina, do you have a cat?" Tina says, "Sure I do, several" (her daughter had rescued six kittens a few months ago from the side of the road and there are two of them left. A few went to new homes and a few met with an untimely demise). The little boy says, "Do you have a black and white cat?" Tina looks at him a little hesitantly and says, "Yes... I do... we call him Sylvester." He says, "Ms. Tina, there is a black and white cat under your car." Tina says, "Is he dead?" And the little boy says, "Um... no ma'am." Tina says, "Is it mangled?" And well, it's about this time that another mom starts laughing... not sure why but it's infectious and the other mom starts laughing and well... before I realize it I'm sorta laughing too. The little boy cuts his eyes at the other two moms and then slowly cuts them at me... and looks back at Tina and says, "No. He's just sitting there." Tina asks if he's bloody - and that just causes us to laugh a little harder - and the boy looks at us again and says to Tina, "No, he's kinda greasy but not bloody." And you can see it on this kids face - he can't understand why she just doesn't get off the couch and come check on the cat... he can't understand why she's interrogating him instead.

So all this time we've been laughing our asses off, but yet still maintaining a certain sense of control... and Tina takes this moment to add, "Y'all, I've been hearing this funny eee-eee, eee-eee noise all day. I wondered what it was - I guess it was the damn cat!" We lost it - and next thing I know we're all laughing so much we're crying... and if I'd wanted to get up off that couch and go check on the cat I couldn't because I would have wet myself. And all this time the little boy is just standing there... waiting.... looking at us like we're lunatics and wondering when we were going to stop acting so darn stupid and get up and just come and take care of the cat, which Tina finally does after saying, "Y'all don't understand - I've already killed one cat myself! I wonder if I need to take the thing to vet?" She finally does go out - the cat is fine - and she takes it home but not after we've all spent fifteen minutes doing an ab work out by laughing so much! I swear the next day I was so sore!

It's a silly story, I know but y'all it was hilarious - my description does not do it justice. I'm sure it was one of those "you had to be there" moments but I had to share it... write it down if nothing more than to remind myself of these lighter moments. It took me a long time to recognize the potential friendships I had waiting for me... they sure are treasures.

Oh... and just so you (no not you) know...For you