When you think about it, much of the crazy annoying things that happen in life border on the edge of absurdity. If we can step back from getting caught up in the frustrations of life we can see that we have a choice, we can fume, or maybe cry, or we can laugh. I’ve done all three at times and I can tell you there is a shift of energy and sense of control when you choose to find the humor in a frustrating situation. I’m not talking about all out crisis. I’m talking about the small frustrations that can build up over time and rob you of joy OR they can add to it.
Example last night, my husband and I attended a concert for a musician only people in our age bracket have heard of. Regardless the process to get these tickets was challenging to say the least. If you ever called a radio station over and over to try to be the 12th caller you might understand the combination of luck and fortitude that obtaining relatively expensive tickets for a (vintage?) musician requires.
So I was lucky to snag the tickets months ago. Watched the weather for days as it was an outdoor concert and it looked sunny and 78 degrees! Perfect! Even that day everything looked perfect. Well we drive 45 minutes away stand in line for 1/2 an hour bogged down with lawn chairs and picnic supplies.. but no rain gear mind you! We find a seat on the lawn and as we are enjoying our Jimmy Johns subs I notice these big billowing cumulonimbus clouds forming to the north.
But the sun is still shining through
and yet I am not sure if I hear something going on with the sound system or is that thunder lowly rumbling? Anywho, our artist comes on stage and starts to play but he’s not playing any of the familiar songs we grew up with and can sing along with. No he’s doing the artist thing and inventing cool but dissonant sounds on his piano and as he does this the clouds are getting bigger… and darker and closer. The thunder is clearly thunder as the musician continues to cast a musical spell which seems to beckon the rain gods to make it rain. . And rain it does
. For an hour that thundercloud sits on top of us and pours rain. Many people leave. Some have actually had the forethought to bring rain gear and umbrellas but not us! And we are not leaving! There are blue skys on both sides of the stage and we see the sun shining through clouds but our thundercloud is hanging out right over the venue and refusing to budge.
Together my husband and I ( aka-two firstborns) have more stubborness than that storm-cloud. And there is one song I want to hear- just one sung the good old fashioned normal way not this new “summons the rain”voodoo magic way. Our artist takes a ten minute break while we sit there getting soaked looking more and. more like two drowning rats. I’m questioning the odds of getting struck by lightning now. I forgot if the odds were greater to win the lottery or get struck by lightning but I knew someone told me once. I was banking that winning the lottery was easier. (I'm guessing though, that the odds change if I'm sitting outside in a thunderstorm. Let me know in the comments if you have the answer to that.
So our artist comes back plays a couple more songs then waves a good night. He doesn’t say it’s because of the "isolated thunderstorm" that just happens to be isolated over top of us, but why else would a concert be just a little over an hour ( with a ten minute break)? It was at this moment that I looked at my husband's face with rain dripping off his eyebrows and nose and we both busted out laughing. The fact that tragedy ( and I use the word lightly) and comedy are so closely linked was evident in that moment. . We probably had more fun because the experience was so bizarre than if we would have spent the evening singing to the oldies as we’d expected ! But it’s because we chose to find the humor in the whole situation that we were able to laugh all the way home in our soaking wet clothes.
This has been a post in association with FMF. FMF is a community that writes for five minutes a week on a given prompt. Today's prompt was capacity.
Oh my. What an experience