From where I sit...

Laugh and the world laughs with you


Everyone knows that it's quite difficult to live your life without a sense of humor. In my family we learned very early on that not only is laughter the best medicine, but it could very well be the cure. The difficulty lies in trying to discern the difference between hysterical and mildly amusing or humiliating and self deprecating. In other words, what might seem outrageously comical to you could appear to be
downright stupid to an innocent bystander. Case in point: one of my siblings (and I refuse to divulge which one for obvious reasons) called me to help them out of a jam (literally) last week. In seems that in an attempt to maneuver the car out of the garage it became stuck...sort of. I was greeted with a friendly wave coming from the drivers side of vehicle which was parked horizontally in the two stall garage. My first thought was “how on earth did that car become “lodged” in that position without smashing it or the something in the building itself?” The explanation that I got was reminiscent of a number of incidences that we have all found ourselves in over the years. In an attempt to solve a problem they just chose what they thought would be the path of least resistance. Unfortunately, that path lead to another and then another until there was no path at all.

One of the garage doors would not stay open. They had meant to fix it but just hadn't gotten around to it. I was not called to assist not because of any expertise or even the slightest hint that I had some kind of magic solution, I just happened to have plans with this sibling and they were already late. Besides that, after hearing about the dilemma over the phone, I had to go and see for myself because I couldn't picture it in my head. To say that I was stunned upon arrival would be putting it lightly but you couldn't help laughing about the situation. Now we had to put our heads together to figure a way out.
They would steer and I would direct or should I drive and let them direct? The answer was obvious. It was their car...their garage...they would be most comfortable in this libelous environment. They knew (or should have known) how they got there so now all they had to do was reverse the steps...yea, right. Something strangely funny happens in your brain when you find yourself so turned around that you can't remember how you got there. Besides, it's not easy to get out of a pickle like this when you can't stop laughing long enough to figure out a “plan.”

After several attempts to get the car out of the open door, we made a joint decision to go to pseudo plan B. Let's start steering the car back into the original position and then hold the broken door open and get out that way. Fortunately it didn't take us long to escape and just file this in the family vault of stupid stories. During the course of this predicament I didn't see any neighbors peering out their window nor did anyone passing by stop to gawk, sneer or take pictures so my guess is that no one even noticed all the fun we were having at our own expense. Thank God we have all inherited my parents sense of humor along with their stamina for predictable screw ups. After all, they had seen and heard it all through many years of all of us wreaking havoc with their home, cars, landscape, and lives in general. It's kind of tough to keep telling your kids and grandchildren to “think before they act” when we are all still finding it so difficult.

by Karen Balice Gregory