For some time I have been writing person posts to my sisters to give a look into what I find are the bizarre and funny happenings of everyday life. You know, the little things that make up family life that you never remember later but make it really wonderful on a daily basis. Like you are in your own sitcom. Here is one that I can share that doesn’t involve profanity or family secrets.
I live in a typical nice suburban neighborhood, colonial houses on a third of an acre, and nice lawns with sprinklers going off at set hours. Across the street, the new people on the block have erected a white party tent on the front lawn. It is Wednesday. We have no idea why it is there. I don’t care. We are “wave when you see them in the drive way” friendly with these people. But our 12 year old daughter is fascinated. Our breakfast nook looks out across the street so we see the tent every day. Days go by and the tent is there. Finally on Friday, chairs and tables show up. We hear that a college graduation party for their son is happening on Saturday. The party comes and goes. But the tent stays. The chairs and tables disappear, but the tent remains. Finally, Wednesday morning I come back from running errands, and the tent is gone.
That evening when my daughter comes home from school, she asks about the big white tent and who picked it up. I say, “one of those small black and white Smart For-Two cars pulled up, about 9 clowns got out and they packed up the tent and took it away”. Pause. My daughter just stares at me. I start humming “dum, dum, da, da, diddy, dum, da,da, da” – the circus diddy - and my husband is in stitches, laughing. I enjoy envisioning this in our quiet neighborhood and crack up too. She, who has only been to the circus once when she was 4, has no idea what we are talking about (remember Barnum and Bailey as an event on TV? Why is the circus no longer on TV?). Playful kid torture – the way I get through parenting.
Thanks for reading.
