The Illusion of Funny

Several months ago, Amanda found my blog on the Internet.

At first I was worried. I mean, I didn't know if I'd be as free to blog now that I knew some of my "material" was reading it.

What took me by surprise was how funny Amanda thought my posts were. I say "surprise" because I can assure you, she does NOT find me funny in person. Hard to believe, I know.

Now part of the reason she finds my posts so funny, is because 85 percent of them revolve around her sister. But that's a whole separate issue.

The other day ...

Amanda:  You make the stuff we do sound much funnier in your blog.

Me:  I know. It's a gift.

Amanda:  I mean, it's not that funny when it happens, but you write about it like it was.

Me:  I don't change anything that you guys say ...

Amanda:  I know. It's just funnier on the blog.

Me:  I agree.

I then explained that most of the things I write about are not funny to me when they happen. AT ALL. Some things ARE hilarious, but many times they're raw parenting moments that just plain SUCK, and it's not until I've had time to reflect on the incident that I can see any humor in it whatsoever.

A good example of this would be a couple weeks ago.

Henry told me Monday morning that he would be leaving the next morning for a broadcaster's convention in Las Vegas. 

Side note:  If I, the mother, had only given him a 24 hour notice that I'd be gone for the next 2 days, do you think that would have flown? Well I guess I'll never know until I try it, right? ROAD TRIP!!! WHO'S WITH ME?!?!?!? Oh, and he ended up leaving that night, so I actually only had about 9 hours notice.

Okay, so the following night, he texted me to see how the day went. I replied with:  Well, tonight both girls yelled that they hated me.

His response?  At least it was unanimous.

Funny, right? Yeah. NOW it's funny. Guess when it WASN'T funny? The moment I received the text. Why? Because I'd had an exhausting day at work, came home only to have to help with homework, pretend to cook dinner, play referee to two sisters who are determined to kill each other, prod them to take showers, etc., etc., ETC.!! And after all that, there were still lunches to be made for the next day and laundry to be done ... so when the girls gave me grief about going to bed, guess what? My humor had LEFT THE BUILDING. And that's when their "I hate you's" started flying. I went to bed utterly spent and completely defeated. 

As I laid in bed, I wondered how in the WORLD my mother survived all those years as a single parent. Then I said a prayer for the other single parents in the world. You all have my utmost respect, just so ya know.

Anyway, that's when I got the text. And no, it wasn't funny at the time, though my reply to him actually was the word: "Funny." Which of course really meant, "NOT FUNNY, Mister-having-fun-in-Vegas-without-any-parental-responsibilities!"

Fast forward several minutes, and I started to appreciate the humor in his reply. I appreciated it enough to even post it as my Facebook status, and got over 60 "likes". Go figure.

So just in case you're under the impression that life at our house is just one huge comedy show ... I assure you, it is not.  Oh sure, there are fun times, but half of the stuff I write about isn't funny to me at that moment. Of course I know there's humor in everything, if I take time to look for it.

Here's what I'm currently trying to find humor in:

Book report projects. 

Yeah ... I got nothin'.