Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Free Medicine


I'm certain my children will one day need therapy. And it's all my fault. Really.

Most people don't know about this little secret I have mostly kept to myself. Hidden from the world, but not from my family. I guess until now anyway. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, yikes!

It happened again just this past Saturday.

I knew everyone needed lunch and got busy preparing food. In the meantime, I noticed five ladybugs crawling around my kitchen window...on the inside. You do remember me telling you about critters coming out of the wood work, right? Well, Caleb happened to be close-by, so I asked him if he would take care of the ladybugs while I made lunch. No problem. Actually, there were more than five and he even discovered a very strange-looking bug in the bottom of the kitchen sink. He called me over to look at it. Weird. Well, don't you know, just as he was finishing the ladybug task, he reached down in the sink with a Kleenex to nab the weird bug. At just the right moment, when his fingers were on the bug and he's completely focused, I reach over and poke him in the ribs and scream! Out comes a guttural scream, a jump straight up, and a look of terror on my son's face. It's hysterical. I'm doubled over laughing...and a few seconds later, he's laughing and has his arms wrapped around me. I'm laughing just thinking about it!

I love to tell the story about the first time I did this to my poor husband. It was right after we moved into our house. I can still see this incident like a movie in my head! He had gone down into our basement and discovered this huge thick spider web nestled up in the rafters. It was more like a cave made out of a spider's web. You knew there was something big in there, but it was very well hidden. He went upstairs, grabbed a can of bug spray and headed down the basement. I quietly followed right behind him. Honestly, I just couldn't help myself! You already know what I did, don't you?! Just at the moment when he went to spray the spider's cave, I grabbed his rear end and screamed. Who knew a grown man could jump so high and move his entire body about ten feet backward in less than one second! I love you, Honey. You are so much fun to scare!

Of course, I've pulled this on Rachel too. Keep in mind, these little stunts are so far apart (months and months or even a year or two) that it's not something in the forefront of their minds. I suppose that will change now that I've put this in writing! Rachel and I were sitting on the sofa watching Journey to the Center of the Earth, the new 3D movie. We had seen it at the theatre and I just happened to remember the very first jump scene. Yep, I did it again!

Many times as we gather and pray together in the morning, I often thank God that the walls of our home have heard more laughter and joy than crying and sadness. We truly love each other so very much. We love to be together. We love to laugh and have fun and be silly. I would like to think that someday my kids will look back and remember just how crazy in love their Mama was with them. Crazy. In. Love.

Laughter is good medicine. No prescription is necessary. And it's free. Unless, of course, your children need therapy sometime later in life!

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