A Yankee has Landed in Texas

My brother and his wife were coming to visit.  Every corner of the house was cleaned and the house was nice and shiny!  Two more days and they’ll arrive!  The beautiful new sheets, bedspread and pillows were ready to be put on the bed.  But, wait!  There was one of those foam rubber mattresses on the bed.  It was about 6 inches thick.  The outside of the foam had a plastic cover sewn over it, kind of like a plastic tablecloth.  It had a binding around it and little tiny holes in it. It had been on the bed a while so I decided I would vacuum it.  No, wait, even better than that!  It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining bright and warm enough so I could wash it and let it dry outside!  I dragged the mattress outside of the house to the patio surrounding the pool.  There I hosed it down and washed it with a nice smelling detergent.   I left the mattress standing on it’s side in the blazing sun.  Later in the afternoon, I turned it around so the other side would dry really good.   In the evening, I took the mattress into the house and put it back on the bed.  It looked great and smelled great too!  What a nice sun dried, great smelling bed my guests would have to sleep in!  I was really proud of the room I had prepared for them!

The next morning, I made the bed and around noon, our guests arrived.  When bedtime came at 11:00 PM, we were all very tired but looking forward to a wonderful day the next day.  My brother and his wife headed off to bed.  They emerged from the bedroom shortly thereafter.  I was surprised to see both of them and I asked “What’s wrong?”.  My brother replied “Our bed is soaking wet!  When we first got in, it was fine, but after just a few minutes, both of us were feeling wet.  Our skin was wet and so were our pajamas.  I mentioned this to her (he pointed to his wife) and she said, ‘Well, maybe it’s a water bed’.  I explained to her that if you sleep in a water bed, you are not sleeping in water and you don’t get wet!”.  Laughter erupted from all of us and we went into the bedroom, removed the foam mattress and took it back out on the patio.  We wiped off the box spring mattress laid some blankets down and my guests went to bed happy! 

In my zeal to have the cleanest, best smelling mattress for them, I just didn’t stop to think that when you press down on foam any water within will rise to the top!  How awkward!

And a beautiful couple they are - young, still in high school, vibrant, energetic and anxious to spend time together whenever, wherever they can.  How about her parents house?  It’s a nice place.  They could sit together on the sofa and watch TV.  Her parents understand young love - they won’t be in the way, even though both the “prince charming” and his princess know full well that nothing improper is tolerated; in other words, no funny business allowed!  At least they’ll be together laughing, sharing, talking.  Wonderful idea! 

The prince shows up at the appointed time, greets the mom & dad appropriately and sits down on the sofa.  The princess and the prince charming decide what they want to watch on TV.  They turn on their special program and the mom and dad disappear into another part of the house.  How perfect!  The young couple are enjoying their program and being together.  Then, something happens.  Right in the middle of their show, a singer appears.  The singer starts out singing a song that was popular perhaps 18 years ago, during the time the mom and dad were dating.  The mom and dad hear the music, that good old rock and roll, and they get excited, so much so that they emerge vigorously from their quiet place, singing loudly and enthusiastically performing the motions they had performed so many years ago.  They swayed from side to side and held one arm in the air as if holding a lighter while at a concert and they grinned from ear to ear and sang their hearts out.  They even danced a little and played some air guitar.  They took their places at the side of the TV in plain sight of the royal couple and, when it was over, back they went to their own space, quiet once again.   The prince and princess just looked at each other and went back to watching their show.

The TV show ended, the prince said goodnight to all and left.  The princess looked at her mom and dad and remarked, “Well that was awkward!”  They all said goodnight and went to bed! 

Was that more awkward for the prince?  Or the princess?  Or no one?!  You decide!

Do you ever have fun with your kids?  Teenagers especially?  Amid the rolling eyes and grumpy good mornings, do you keep smiling and try to be silly?  I try hard not to let the moments when foul moods strike set the tone.  Someone told me once that as the mom, I am the one who sets the tone of my household.  That was an eye opener for me.  I had been thinking, “Man, all we do is fight in our house.  I can’t stand it.  Why is everything yelling and so negative.”  After my friend told me that I set the tone, I realized that I had the power to change it.  I love laughing with my kids and my husband.  I try to take deep breaths when things start going south in our household and do or say something stupid or silly.  Often, I purposely say something so dumb that I know my kids will crack up.  At first, I think they thought I really was that dumb.  But, they’ve come to realize that I’m not really a dumbo, I’m just playing one.  We get to giggling over such silly stuff.  It’s such fun.Here’s a for instance.  I was driving my 14 year old to her boyfriends house.  She was trying to call him to tell him she was almost there.  She couldn’t get through, his phone was busy.  She started to worry, saying she had told him she would call him before she got there but she thought his mom was on the phone.  She kept trying to dial him.  So, I put my hand to my mouth and called out “Mark.  Mark!”  Then I said, “Now you can tell him you called him.”  She burst out laughing.  She jumped in and started calling him the same way, and even rolled the window down and called out the window.  She laughed about that for 2 days. 

Silly?  You bet!  But also a moment she and I still laugh about.