Patriotic Table and Prentzels and other Randomness

Ok. I feel as if I have to preface this post with the fact I truly love my family. I love that we can laugh at each other. What makes it different is we are the targets of our own humor - our jokes do not seem to come at the expense of others - only ourselves and I think I appreciate it. It is easy to laugh at others and poke fun at someone that is not present to defend oneself but this is not funny - it is hurtful.

So - instead of poking fun at others - we focus within and I think it bonds us together like an inside joke that I will now exploit to the world.

We are riding in the car and Ben is wanting to know about the Patriotic Table of Elements and I thought I heard "Patriotic" but knew my son would not confuse "Periodic" with "Patriotic" - yet I can see how the table could be Patriotic - with Gold and Silver - equate this with Olympic Medals and yeah....I see the connection. So - I let it slide. A few days later, Ben brings up the Patriotic table again. Did I hear him right? Did he say Patriotic?

So, my husband sets out to correct the error. This coming from a man that cannot for the life of him say "Pretzel" - he throws a random "N" in for fun - and it drives me nuts - "I'm packing some prentzels in my carry on." "Who ate all the prentzels?" WHAT on earth is a prentzel?

Now - I know I've made mistakes too - like the time on the White Pine trail when I saw a pheasant and exlaimed "Look a peasant!" - Oh - minus the "H" and when Dan exclaimed "WHERE?" We both exploded with laughter.

We've had other words like "breakfrast" (breakfast) and "gazzurt" (dessert) come into our vocab and we laugh. It is delightful to laugh at ourselves.

We are not perfect and we do not pretend we are. We live honestly and celebrate our moments together and it truly is a blessing - even when we pick up extra letters and patriots.

As for other randomness - Janis and I saved a raccoon today. We were at the track and I headed over to spit my gum out in the garbage bin and saw this big ball of fur. My brain doesn't process situations that are out of the ordinary very fast and the first thing that popped into my head was "Who would throw a dead raccoon into a garbage bin?" Then I had an immediate thought that it wasn't a raccoon because I could not see its tail or head - then dog came into my brain unitl I thought I heard it hiss. No dog. Cat? Then it hissed again and I knew it was a raccoon. The darn thing was trapped in the bin - plastic sides and nothing to climb on to get out I only wondered how long it was stuck in there.

Janis and I thought to drag the barrel closer to the grassy hill but we were afraid of being wrong - that the raccoon only wanted a safe place to sleep and that it would actually jump out and attack. So- ever so carefully and slowly we slid the barrel to the grass - all the while this raccoon picked up its head and continued to hiss.

We got the bin to the gate and slowly tipped it over and that raccoon did not waste a moment getting out of the trash. He even left food behind. I felt so bad for it - all curled up into a ball as if it had given up hope - and then when he had the chance - he fled - got to the top of the hill and looked back before he crawled under the fence to make his great escape.

Watching him run and looking back- made us both feel good - as if he need us and we needed the affirmation we did something right.

So - I think about my family and the blessings we have - the kindness and openness of our hearts and the understanding we are not perfect - but we strive to live our best and with that I can ask of nothing more.