However like any difficult life challenge, with diligence, faith, patience, and lots of hard work, one slow day at a time, it gets better.
Humor, of course, also helps. I have been surprised to find how much I need humor in my life right now. I need to laugh. It is such an immense relief from all the stress, to find something that causes spontaneous laughter and smiles.
So, instead of posting pictures of our new house (still not unpacked yet), or listing all the things I am trying to like about this new place but still don't, I thought I'd make a list of things I've found funny the past few weeks. Even if you don't find them funny, hopefully when I'm having another long day, I can look back on them, and bring up a much needed giggle. Maybe even a snort. You know it's really funny if it makes you unattractively snort.
1. DH learned some interesting information in his welcome to Cannon AFB five hour brief. (It really was that long!) He was warned to be watchful of cows. Yes- cows. If someone's cow gets loose and wanders into the road, and you hit it and miraculously survive the crash, you'll wish you hadn't. Not only is it considered your fault for hitting the cow, even if the cow isn't anywhere near the farmer's land- BUT you are required to reimburse the farmer for said cow, PLUS an additional two generations of cow, making up for the loss of potential cow offspring. Crazy, very crazy. But also funny. If I ever hit a cow though, not so funny.
2. We saw a man in a restaurant in a crazy cowboy outfit. By crazy, I mean he had a huge belt buckle, big brimmed cowboy hat, and cowboy boots that were so pointy, they actually pointed upwards at the tips like elf shoes do, and were covered in a sort of stud-polka dot design. This may not be funny if you grew up around cowboys, but to this suburban girl who literally had no idea adults wear cowboy hats and boots outside of Halloween parties, it was very funny. I may have let my jaw drop to the floor, and stared much longer than is polite, before a huge and stupid grin formed on my face, and I had to suppress an intense case of the giggles.
3. Watching the What Does the Fox Say viral video on youtube over and over with my kids, (it never stops being funny) and having my two year old walk up to me at random moments of the day and sing, "pow pow pow pow, what fox say?" I've tried to catch him doing it on video with my phone, but as soon as he sees me try, he wont do it anymore. I haven't given up yet though, it's such a great combination of funny and cute.
4. I saw this commercial on TV last week. I'm afraid I'm one of those city people who doesn't get it. Instead, I find it funny. Just imagining Earl, Jim-bob, Bubba, and all his cousins taking a break from haulin' hay so they can log onto onlyfarmers.com and look up chicks- yeah, sorry, no matter how hard I try to be humble and understanding, it's still funny.
5. Lots of funny posts on Facebook. Thank you, my dear friends, for sharing life's funny moments. I needed the laughs. I think my favorite funny post, was by my best friend from high school. She so kindly wrote:
Words I never thought I'd utter: "Don't use your toothbrush to scratch your butt!"
Ah, parenting! You just can't make this stuff up.
So, it's not a very long list. There have been a few other humorous moments, but they would fall under the, "you had to be there and have heard the entire conversation" category, and I've found whenever I try to explain those kinds of funny moments, I just start sounding stupid, and whomever is listening, kind of glazes over, and will respond with a fake laugh, or polite comment such as, "haha, yeah", or "uh-huh".
If you have something funny for me, please, by all means, share it in the comments. Like Elizabeth Bennet, I dearly love to laugh.
