Sunday, a couple of weeks ago I had to laugh at myself. A lot.
We like to go to church 30 minutes early and just sit quietly. That drove my son, Gavin, a little nuts. He often waited till the very last minute to jump in the shower. If we said anything about hurrying then he would tell us he still had 7 minutes or whatever little time he had left. Most of the time he didn’t actually get ready by 30 minutes after the hour, but he did get close. Sometimes he actually made it!
Gavin left a few months ago to serve a mission for our church so we haven’t had that discussion since then. I both miss and am glad not to have that weekly discussion.
So that Sunday morning when my Rex and I got in the car at 10:29, I thought about how being one more minute early would have really got to my son and how he would have assured us that he still had 1 more minute and then probably would have taken 3.
My husband and I teach the 5-7-year-old children’s class together. The lesson manual suggested that we have a suitcase to use as an object lesson for what was being taught that week. We thought it was a good idea so we packed it with a few other things that would work for the lesson as well.
We got to church, suitcase in hand, and went into the foyer. In my church, several congregations will meet in the same building at different times. Another congregation was still holding services. We stood there confused and thinking they had gone over a LONG time. Then we realized what was going on – church starts at 12:00!
Rex and I must really be in unity for neither of us to catch we were heading out the door not only 30 minutes early, but a whole hour and a half early!
We went out to the car and laughed. Then I laughed even harder as I thought about the people in the foyer wondering why there was a couple standing there with a suitcase.
As I have thought about this, I remembered another time about which I still laugh at myself.
For a while, I was trying to watch how much I was eating. I was really craving Big Macs though. I discovered it wasn’t the Big Mac that I wanted, but the special sauce. So I started ordering just a hamburger with Big Mac sauce. It gave me the taste craving I wanted with far fewer calories.
One day, I went through the drive-through and ordered my hamburger with no ketchup, but added Big Mac sauce. I’ve noticed that when you do things out of the ordinary it throws people sometimes so it wasn’t a surprise to me when the drive-through worker was a little confused by my request. Besides, this was a drive-through and we all know how the sound system isn’t always great.
He questioned my order so I repeated it it.
I told him I wanted a “hamburger with Big Mac sauce and no ketchup.”
He still wasn’t getting it, so I explained that I didn’t want the extra bun, meat, cheese etc. in the Big Mac, but I still wanted the sauce and that’s why I wanted a hamburger with it.
It got really quiet for a few seconds…
“Ma’am, this is Wendy’s. Not McDonald’s.”
Yes, I had gone to Wendy’s which was right next door to McDonald’s.
My face reddened, but I started laughing. I told him to have a good day and I would go on over to McDonald’s as that was what I was craving.
I have always loved that he had a story to tell his other coworkers that day.
To wrap this up I’m going to keep this simple: don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself. Things are just better when you do.
Please share a story where you laughed at yourself in the comments!