I'm not a big fan of Practical Jokes. I find them to be a rather hostile form of humor, so I rarely do anything for April Fools Day (except be on guard against something somebody might do to me.)
I've previously mentioned to you that for the last 10 years of my mother's life we lived apart, in different apartment buildings, at separate ends of the city. And usually one weekend out of each month we created into our own "long" weekend and cooked and laughed and sang and prayed and talk, talk, talked our way through those "weekend" days.
One year April Fools Day fell on a day when I was due to show up at Mom's apartment. I usually took a bus, but this time I had several bags with me, so I decided to take a taxi over to Mom's place.
I also hadn't been on a date for quite some time, which Mom was aware of. In fact, the previous time I had taken a taxi ride Mom had been with me and the taxi driver had tried to "pick me up" and he was even bold enough to ask for my phone number. I had not given it to him, for reasons that would have been obvious to you if you had met him too.
So, on that particular April Fools "long weekend", when I got to Mom's place with all my bags, Mom asked me if I had had any "difficulties" carrying all that stuff.
"No." I replied. "Actually, the taxi driver was extremely helpful."
Then, I don't know what came over me, but I suddenly decided to "celebrate" April's Fools Day. So I continued by saying to her,
"Actually, you'll never believe this, but guess who the taxi driver was."
She responded with, "I couldn't even imagine."
I told her, "It was the same driver we had last time. The guy who tried to get my phone number."
She was rummaging through one of the bags I had handed her, but when I told her about the taxi driver, her head popped up, she looked at me with deep sympathy and replied, "You poor thing! That must have seemed like a very long cab ride over here. Did he try and get your phone number again?"
I started acting embarrassed and shuffling my feet while I looked at the floor. Then I said rather quietly,
"Actually, I hate to admit it, but I've been feeling a bit lonely lately, so I made a date with him this time."
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| "Honk if you want what I got!" |
You should have seen my poor Mother's face. I know she was thinking all sorts of things including:
* "Laura-Lee is a grown woman and I have no right to interfere.
* She usually has such sound judgment, but to go out with that taxi driver is a sign she's in a bad way emotionally.
* How do I go about best helping her?
* How will I ever stop her from actually going out with that man?!!
All that turmoil in that one little woman. I couldn't stand to see her in such distress so I quickly admitted it was an April Fools "joke". Her sigh of relief was so loud I'm sure people heard it from here in Canada all the way to South America.
The joke had seemed to set itself up so perfectly, but to see Mom "twisting in the wind", even just for a few seconds, took all the "funny" out of it.
It seems that God gave us humor to make us feel good and if it does just the opposite, then it's probably not from God.
I'm not trying to sound "holier than thou", but lately it seems God has been stirring my memories and they've been "jumping out" at me from all over the place. I've been getting the desire to share memories without knowing if God is trying to teach something specific or if they even have a point.
It's as if God is saying, "Don't worry about the 'why' or 'who' this story is for. That's my business. Here's a memory. Just tell it."
Maybe God is saying something to you directly OR maybe it's just an interesting or entertaining story for your enjoyment (and that's okay too).
At any rate, thanks again for coming by and reading what I've written. I always find it flattering and an honor that you spend your time (which is truly precious in our busy world and more valuable than money) being here with me.
I deeply hope you come away feeling better, but (most of all) that you discover something to help you know you're neither alone or abandoned. Not by me; nor by God.
[Jesus loves us, this I know. For the Bible tells us so.]
AND
Laura-Lee ... [C'est moi] Was Here
