April Fool's Hangover....

It is a late post today...did you think it was an April Fool's Hangover?? That is what I have....April Fools Day dates back to some crazy antics in the 1500s, and has been a world-wide phenomenon ever since.  This is a day that people either love or hate.  Even national publications, tv stations and government officials get in on it (no, I do not believe the current presidency is a drawn-out practical joke).  A few years back, Taco Bell took out a full page ad in the New York Times stating that they had in fact purchased the historic Liberty Bell to help reduce the national debt and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell. When asked about it in an interview, a spokesman for the Historical Society stated that "Yes, it is something we are trying.  We have also renamed it the Lincoln Mercury Memorial"...that is funny shit! It is a day that has unsuspecting people looking like fools.  It has others on edge, watching their backs and at the mercy of the jokester.

I went downstairs to make coffee yesterday morning, and was wondering why my three kids were sitting at the counter so eagerly awaiting breakfast. I am usually dragging any combination of them out of bed, begging them to get dressed and still 15 minutes later beckoning them to come down and eat. But today, I was met by three anxious faces. The youngest is not a master of subtleties, but I chalked it up to the early hour and the fact that I had not had any coffee yet when I unsuspectingly turned on the kitchen sink and was dumbfounded by the deluge of cold water that was drenching my from the chest down. WHAT THE HELL!??!! Fits of laughter overcame my children. One fell off of his barstool, rolling onto the floor in a very self-congratulatory manner. They got me. Dammit. It is April Fool's Day. A mother's and teacher's worst nightmare. I used to love April Fools Day as a kid....I re-set my brother's alarm clock once for 2 hours earlier than he needed to get up. Then I laid quietly in my warm bed when I listened to him shuffle to the shower. I was so pleased with myself, until my dad, wondering what the hell was going on, tipped off my brother that it was 4am....go back to bed. I peaked through the crack of my bedroom door, thereby implicating myself as the guilty party. I was sure he was going to pound me. But I felt such pride in my prank. And the list of possible pranks goes on and on. I am not a self-proclaimed master. Not at all. And I am the one that loves a good prank, unless I am the victim. So this particular morning, sans coffee, I was not pleased. I played it off though, because my kids had such a sense of pride. But I was onto them now. No one else was going to get me. But the morning continued and they persisted "Mom, the toast is burning....APRIL FOOLS!! Mom, school called and it is cancelled today....APRIL FOOLS!! Mom, is that a spider on your shirt....APRIL FOOLS!" And so on and so on. Harmless really, and all in good fun. I got in a few of my own. I twisted apart the oreos I put in their lunch and inserted little notes that said "HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY - LOVE MOM" I guess had they unknowingly eaten the note, thereby gagging and hacking up their lunch, the joke would have been on the janitor more than the kids, but by the time I actually thought the whole thing through, they were already at school. So I got them, which only spurred more lame attempts at "getting me" when they got home. But I love their energy and attempts at creativity. But believe me, I have seen it all....so when my fellow blogger called me and said that her 8 year old emerged from the bedroom asking for a roll of saran wrap, I told her I doubt it is because she couldn't finish the casserole she was eating in her beroom....

Here is to the continued love of laughter, spurts of creativity and good old fashioned joy brought on by all jokesters out there. Why is there such entertainment in watching someone else make a complete fool out of themselves? Ashton Kutcher figured out a way to make millions out of it. Judging by my kids antics, they have a lot to learn though. Keep on keeping on :)

Have a Wonderful Easter Weekend from your friends at the Daily Epidural!