It was a sober moment. My husband was outside my car, standing in the pouring rain, motioning me closer to the curb. After maneuvering back and forth between two parked cars, I finally got the job done. I grabbed my umbrella. Not just any umbrella. (Warming: I am about to go off on a brief tangent.)This baby is a beaut. I first saw her in a SkyMall magazine, when I was flying home from a visit with my parents. I live in Seattle, where it rains all winter long, and this big ol’ umbrella called to me. I’ve never bought a thing from an airplane magazine, and I stuffed the thing into the seat pocket. But I couldn’t stop thinking about that umbrella. Black, with a row of red silk roses sewn round the rim. Closed it looks like a bouquet. Open, it’s an umbrella rimmed with roses. Pretty! I was in love, and darned if I didn’t slide the magazine back out of the pocket and stash it in my purse.
The next morning I went online and ordered. Ten days later she arrived (yes, I have given her a sex and a name—female, Rosie.) To my surprise, those roses aren’t silk at all. They’re made of some nameless red fabric and stitched into the rim by their plastic, two-inch-long stems. The funkiest thing you ever saw! Not so beautiful as the picture; in fact kinda ugly. But she’s still ultra cool, and I’m not the only one who believes this. Everywhere I carry Rosie, I get comments from women who want one just like her. Who’d have thought?
Anyway, as soon as I parked the car nice and close to the curb, I grabbed Rosie, whom I keep in the back seat of my car. When I pulled her into the front seat I accidentally hit the latch. She popped open. Fully open she’s way too big for my car. I couldn’t even open her all the way. I tried to close her back up to her trim little self, but for some reason that didn’t work, either. I tried twice without any luck. Then I realized how funny the whole thing was. Well, I got the giggles. There I was, in the front seat of my Prius, laughing hysterically and trying to control my rebellious umbrella, while my husband got wetter by the second. Hey, he could’ve stayed dry if only he’d grabbed Rosie for himself. But for some reason he won’t touch her.
At last I closed the thing and exited the car. My husband just shook his head. But I kept on laughing.
Next time he rides in my car he’ll bring his own umbrella.
Ann Roth
It Happened One Wedding, April, 2007
Another Life, April, 2007
www.annroth.net
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4 comments:
Thank you so much for the giggles. It's a typical Monday morning. Chaos! But something about your post reminded me to laugh at myself and some of the -life happens - events that we live through everyday.
I'm so glad you liked it, Chelle. Laughter is a wonderful thing... if we can remember to do it!
Too often we get caught up in the drama and trauma's of our everyday life that we forget to laugh at the small stuff. Sometimes all we can do is laugh...it keeps us from falling apart.
Sometimes it's really hard to laugh! But really, there is humor everywhere, if only we look for it.
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