Finding the Funny

wordswithmrsh - 19 Aug 16

Some days can be tough. Those days that feel like hard work – just because. Those times where you look around and wonder if being 35 actually, really, qualifies as being a grown up and surely someone else, far more mature, wants to be in charge, worry about kids, the house, the bills, life in general….

Then you realise that although you may never be too old for a nostalgic full album play of Pearl Jams TEN; wearing black and wallowing didn’t get you far as a teen and is going to do diddly right now. When the kids arrived the duvet days, as these times would have previously been known, went out the window. So, day time tv and hibernation out the window, what is left is to find the funny.

Turns out there is bags of it around if you tune to hear it and let yourself enjoy it. Particularly when there’s kids involved. Over the last few months, there have been a number of classics, seemingly perfectly timed to break the tension. (Although I am sure they are not planning it that way).

My three old was desperate to join in the football chat during the Euros. Over a tense dinner time (use your knife properly, sit on the chair, don’t talk with your mouth full, stop annoying your brother… you know the one) we turned the discussion to football. The eldest said he wanted to Wales to win their next match, the youngest replied he wanted the Dolphins to win. Brilliant.

Another mealtime, and there was an epic showdown where the little one didn’t even have the grace to pretend to eat his chicken fajitas. We barely settled on a compromise of a tortilla wrap with ham instead. I got up defeated, to prepare said ‘dinner’ when, without missing a beat, the wee man pointed at peppers sprouting out of his now cold and untouched fajita and said ‘no worms this time mummy’. Suddenly we were smiling again and it felt good.

Following a fairly rowdy night with a teething baby, our 8yr old was up early, crawled into our bed all sleepy and was beginning to doze off when he sat bolt upright and declared that one of his toes might be missing. With a recount, we were able to confirm all toes were present and correct and it seems it was just sleep deprivation and maybe a funny dream that caused the confusion. But at 530am on a few hours sleep, it did make me laugh.

I love these moments because it’s our kids, just being kids and the joy of tuning in to them, with their lack of filters and sometimes total nonsense, means there is fun in every day – it’s just that some days it feel harder to spot or appreciate, we just have to keep looking and listening.

Following a day out on what should have been a nice country walk, I was feeling the gloom. It had drizzled consistently, both boys had shown total inability to follow instructions resulting in one with a soaking wet shoe from a close call with the lake, one with an impressive scratch from a failed tree climb and both with nettle stings. All of which equalled moaning. I was starting to abandon all hope. We stopped at a tiny cafe for a refuel. If the elderly lady running the cafe was concerned that it looked like we found our boys living feral in a bush on our walk, she didn’t show it. On the table next to us was a family with two very well behaved children, happily leafing through their wildlife spotting guides and discussing the names of plants and butterflies.

So, I ask our boys what their favourite animal or flower is we have seen that morning. At a volume of all new glass breaking proportions, our younger boy shouts ‘poo fart’ at the top of his lungs. And before we have a chance respond, the eldest is snorting the water he has just drunk out of his nose before dissolving in hysterics. I look over at the children with their wildlife jotters and their parents pretending not to have heard the performance. As if reading my mind, the husband gives me a look as if to say ‘if you can’t beat them…’ and then also begins to laugh.
Ok, based on that example I get you might not want to sit next to us in a cafe or public place but at that moment my kids were having fun. Loud, embarrassing, but harmless fun. And maybe not the funny one liners I prefer that make us giggle, but when it’s all getting a bit hard or gloomy, sometimes the best you can do is go with it, shout poo fart and go find the funny.

wordswithmrsh

Mum of fabulous children, wife to one very patient husband. My blogs are about anything that has popped into my head as it occurs to me. I have aspirations to write more, that are slowly turning into reality. A lover of the simple things in life - good friends, good food, good wine and of course family.

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