What do you call a fish with no I's?

Lynae N.

March 28, 2010 - 9:07 PM

My daughter spent the week in Southern Oregon visiting her biological mom and her grandma. Brian and I went to pick her up from grandma's yesterday and ended up bringing her cousin, Ashley, along with us and meeting my brother-in-law in Eugene to save him a long drive from Salem to Medford to get her. Shae is used to having a bountiful special toys and gadgets for the car which she has collected over the years. Only, oops!, Brian and I forgot to bring her things with us so she and her cousin were left to endure a 2 ½ hour road trip the old fashioned way before the days of portable DVD players and ipods. Both Shae and Ashley were dumbfounded and had no clue what to do.

The girls played, fought, and slept in the back seat of the car for a good hour and a half. At that point, we made a bathroom stop and when we got back in the car they were reenergized and tired of being cooped up in a car. (I'm sure the ice cream we ate on our little stop didn't help with energy levels either). So tell me, what do you get with two hyper girls full of ice cream in the back seat a car with two tired grumpy adults in the front seat? It is a recipe for one of two things: disaster or complete silliness.

The coin was flipped and it landed on silliness. I am not sure how it started, but someone started singing a goofy camp song. Then I thought of one, and another one, and another. It had begun. We laughed and sang songs we knew and made up fantastic new songs, like My Mom thinks She's a Kitty-Cat. We threw jokes in the mix too. Within minutes we transformed the entire car from a tired, precociously teetering balance between grump and goof and land-slid into all becoming five year olds.

I love the memories that time created. It is in those moments that bonding happens and relationships are formed. They are novel times, something spontaneous and good that happens at a much needed time. When I think back on my life it is these times that I remember with the most fondness. I smile when I think about them and I'm sure I will continue to smile about this hour as I am right now writing about it. I hope the same for Brian, Shae, and Ashley. Moments like these are what family is all about. In the hurried schedules and brain-sucking presence of media in our lives, these moments are few and far between. I cherish them and am so glad I was able to lighten up and sing about farts. I hope and pray you have many fart song moments in your life and can tell lame jokes and laugh until you cry with the ones you love. Maybe make a date of it. If your time goes as mine, you won't regret it. Have fun and be a kid. This is a good reminder for me and hopefully encouragement for you if you need it.