Being Able to Laugh

I am grateful for a sense of humor. I am grateful for friends with a sense of humor - it makes it so much easier to get through life.

Picture if you will Thursday morning. I have just spent 1/2 hour trying to fit five car seats into the car and another 15 minutes buckling everyone in (those darn boosters in the back are tough - Note to Honda: please give us another 3 inches on the back seat. Thanks.)

We are off on a field trip to the Como Zoo in St. Paul. The spring flower show has just opened and it is 75 degrees - 75!! - in Minnesota!! The baby falls asleep in his car seat for a much needed nap and we are off. I head towards Marsha's house to pick her up when a 3 year old kid in the back seat says "Stacey my stomach hurts." As I pull into Marsha's driveway I yell out the window for her to grab a plastic bowl - just in case.

We are about 15 minutes down the freeway with my handy GPS telling us the way when kid in the back throws up - into his bowl thank heavens, and then bursts out crying - loudly. His screeching wakes up baby from his much needed nap and the baby joins in the chorus. We cannot pull over on the interstate so we continue driving to our exit to the sounds of two screaming children and two others loudly exclaiming on the color and texture of the vomit. Just at that moment Marsha's cell phone rings. I can only hear her side of the conversation.

Marsha: "Hello? No, I'm headed to the zoo with Stacey. We have five kids in the car. One just threw up and another is screaming. Bet you wish you were here huh?"

Barf boy was fine as soon as we stopped the car. In fact he spent the next hour telling me every 5 minutes that he was hungry. The baby however, never got over being woken from his nap. He was a serious grouch - plus - he hates Marsha. We do not know why, but he bursts into tears if she so much as looks at him funny or even talks which meant I carried him most of the time. The baby is heavy.

The zoo was packed - the weather and Easter weekend brought half the state to St. Paul. The flower gardens are beautiful and smell heavenly and are well worth the drive and the screaming children. I packed a picnic lunch and we ate outside in the glorious sunshine. If you go, be warned that the zoo is not yet ready for spring and few of the outdoor exhibits are open. We did see some monkeys, bison and large cats, but most of the animals are still inside. The kids liked the fish the best and splashing in the fountains.

Thank you Marsha for laughing with me. On the drive home, 4 of the 5 children fell asleep and there was blissful silence. I only had one CD in the car and the CD had only one soft piano number, so we listened to it 20 times on the way home. It makes all the difference if you can get to the point where you can laugh at life instead of cry.