Adventures in Motherhood: An Exercise in Funility
"Eeewww, cow poop!" squealed my son, inciting instantaneous
giggles from his little sisters at his remark.
At least that was better than the bored whining I'd heard for
the last twenty-five miles. After about five more miles of poop
talk, things reverted back to whining, again. I really needed to
come up with something fast, other than the five different
versions of road sign bingo that we played the first fifty
miles, or I was going to go insane.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, interrupting a "Mom, she's looking at me"
and a "Don't touch me!" volley. Sort of getting their attention,
I pressed on. "What would the world be like if turtles could
fly?" I casually remarked. That got their attention and threw
them into hysterics. Okay, I thought, this could actually work.
After the laughter died down, I threw in, "and what would the
world be like if birds flew backwards?" Another burst of
laughter followed that statement.
Then my son got into the swing of things and said, "What would
the world be like if ev'rybody's butt danced when they walked?"
We all have the sillies and the giggles now.
My oldest daughter threw in, "what would the world be like if
worms floated in the air?" Then my three-year-old chirps, "what
the world be like if'n worms float'd in a air?" Well, she
is only three, mimicking is what she does best. We all
still giggle and there is magic in the air.
Even though this "exercise in funility" only lasted about
thirty-four and a half minutes, its mood carried us on to our
destination.
So, if you are out of ideas and almost out of your mind, try it
on for size. You may find that it not only wipes out some of
that "whine time" it invites happiness and silliness to plop
down and buckle up in your car, plane, train, bus, bike,
sneakers...