Funny?
“You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover’s arms can only come later when you’re sure they won’t laugh if you trip. ~Jonathan Carroll, “Outside the Dog Museum”
How do we react when someone else makes a funny mistake? I tend to laugh, a lot, sometimes too much.
Dan was asked to read a prayer at the end of his Aunt Frances’ funeral last week. He agreed to do it, and was handed a card with the prayer on it when he was called up front. He said “Let’s pray”, and everyone bowed their heads in prayer. The only thing was, it wasn’t a prayer- but a poem.
He was embarrassed to have called it a prayer, but that is what he was told it would be. Then when he was reading it, there was a line that said “And He closed her eyes and called her home”. Dan made a mistake, he said “And He crossed her eyes…” then corrected himself.
I lost it. I was laughing, his sister sitting next to me was laughing, other people behind us were laughing. We were all quiet, but Dan didn’t know why we were all laughing.
When we got out to the car, I told him what he said. His sister confirmed it, and we all had a good laugh. But then we got to the church, and he had to read a scripture for the service there. The poor guy was so nervous, but all was well. He did a beautiful job. As a matter of fact, the priest told him he would like to make Dan a regular Lector. I told Dan “He must not have been at the funeral home, huh?”
I still laugh when I think about Dan saying that, but I will get over it. I really think Aunt Frances would have laughed too. After all, she did have a great sense of humor.
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