Self-deprecating laughter!
When I have one of those realizations that I did something particularly dense/dumbass/, I call it a blonde moment. I can do this, since I’m a blonde, and I’ve come to enjoy sharing my laughter.
Others, blonde or not, may have a different term for that moment when you can either laugh at yourself or bang your head against the wall. I like the chuckle that comes with the duh-uh moment. A friend of mine calls them mental-pauses, so her term may have a gender and an age requirement. What do you call those moments?
This particularly moment came with Hogmanay, the Scots New Year’s Eve. My Scottish heritage comes with years of my Gran and my Mum training me to sweep out the old year – literally. I had to clean my home so that nothing would be carried into the new year: no dirt, no laundry, nothing out of place. On Hogmanay, I was a whirlwind of polishing and putting away and organizing closets and cleaning.
The day before I’d been looking for all kinds of tips, organization and cleaning, especially regarding cleaning hacks One of the sites offered a great idea I’m happy to share: if you sprinkle some cinnamon on the floor when vacuuming, it spreads a great scent in the house. Inspired, I told hubby to spread the cinnamon on the kitchen floor as I continued tidying in my office.
Hubby gave me that look:, the one men give wives when they don’t understand the instructions but have been married long enough that they just do it anyway. He muttered under his breath as he headed for the kitchen to put cinnamon on the floor, and I ignored him in the way of wives everywhere who have been married long enough that they don’t try to explain their reasoning because he’s going to do it anyway and that’s the bottom line.
Then I emerged from my office and headed towards the kitchen. I walked past the long, long central vac hose that connects to the fitting in the wall. And I halted, suddenly aware that the scent of cinnamon was only going to freshen the canister in our furnace room, not the living areas of the house. It was a perfect duh-uh moment, and I started to laugh.
In fact, the kitchen has a kick plate for the central vac, into which you sweep crumbs and so on, so you’d have thought that might of twigged me to the issue. I laughed harder, degenerating to giggling and that snort laugh that you never want to do in public. Hubby heard the laughter and came out of the kitchen to see me leaning against the wall in the hallway. I couldn’t even talk, I just kept pointing at the wall outlet where the hose attached and laughed more.
It was a perfect moment for New Year’s Eve because I got to recognize a major blonde moment and laugh it out. And I get to share it with you so that you know you’re not alone when you have those moments. Hubby got to laugh too when I was able to stop giggling long enough to explain, and sharing laughter is a great way to start the new year.
So is letting go! Letting go allows you to laugh instead of judging yourself, and recognize that we’re all human and it’s great when we can laugh together. I hope I’ve given you a chuckle today because I still smirk when I think of that little pile of spice on the floor. Hey, you can even thank yourself for giving the gift of laughter, and that makes the faux pas a gift. That’s a great attitude to take into 2017.
We learn we grow and we share. We share and we feel the joy of giving at the same time we remind ourselves we are human and we’re in this together. I hope I brought you a smile to go with my wishes for a Joyous New Year.