Laugh it off; it makes life more enjoyable

o7A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs.

It’s jolted by every pebble on the road.

f7-- HENRY WARD BEECHER

I enjoy the above quote, and it reminded me of something humorous

that happened last weekend.

My husband, Jon, and I flew to Bozeman, Mont., on Friday to check

on a business project there and also to see some friends of ours. We

have two different sets of friends living there who used to live in

Southern California, and we enjoyed getting to see them.

On Saturday night, our friends Phil and Connie picked us up at the

wonderful Victorian bed and breakfast where we stayed. They came into

the parlor briefly and we introduced them to the owner of the inn.

They then drove us to one of their favorite places to eat in downtown

Bozeman.

We had a wonderful dinner and loved catching up with special

friends we hadn’t seen in years. When dinner was over, we continued

our conversations at another favorite spot while enjoying delicious

locally made ice cream.

Phil and Connie then drove us back to our inn. As we said good

night, they told us they would pick us up at 8:30 the next morning

for church. They told us it was important to be on time in order to

be assured of a place to sit.

Jon and I began to walk up to the Victorian house, and then we

both stopped at the same time. We both realized that we were not in

front of our inn at all.

We’d gone on a walk earlier that day, so Jon recognized the street

and knew that we were only two blocks away. It was a gorgeous and

warm evening with a full moon, so it was an easy and enjoyable walk

back to our inn.

The next morning, we were careful to be ready on time. At 8:30, we

sat on rocking chairs on the inn’s front porch to wait for our

friends.

It was another 10 minutes before we saw them. After we hopped in

the car and greeted them, Connie began laughing.

“You’ll never guess what just happened,” she said. “We pulled up

to the house, and when you weren’t out in front, I went up and rang

the door bell. Nothing happened, so I started knocking.

“There was still no answer, and I saw that the door was unlocked,

so I went inside. I saw a highchair on the way to the kitchen, which

surprised me, because I didn’t remember that from the day before, and

then I realized we were at the wrong place.

“Fortunately I didn’t see anybody and left as quickly as I could,

but that’s why we’re late.”

She laughed and so did we.

“You must have been at the house where you dropped us off last

night,” I said.

We all laughed and shared more humorous stories of blunders we’d

made.

We did make it to church on time, and they dropped us off at the

right place afterward.

We are all going to make mistakes in the adventure of life, and it

certainly makes the ride more enjoyable when we can laugh along the

way.

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks

frequently to parenting groups. She may be reached via e-mail at

[email protected] or through the mail at 537 Newport Center

Drive, Box 505, Newport Beach, CA 92660.