There were some good pieces of the day. First, I have teeth! I was able to bite my tongue during a meeting wherein my filter certainly needed to be replaced. You see, teeth are my backup filter. As long as I have teeth, the proverbial “Change Filter” light can come on, but I can still get through meetings.
Second, I used more than four keystrokes to return an email that I received. This may seem odd, as less is more, but the only key strokes that I wanted to use were a W, then a T, then an F, and then an enter.
Third, nobody can read my thought bubbles. Strike that, the people that can read my thought bubbles are as demented as I am. And timed correctly, mere eye contact can get us laughing—sometimes at the most inappropriate times. Last night was one of those. I was in a board meeting. In between looking on the floor for a hot poker to stick in my eye because it would have been less painful, I made eye contact with a colleague. We were toast. He started laughing, and then I followed. I had been so good to contain my laughter the rest of the meeting because, unfortunately/fortunately, I can find humor in just about anything. That split second eye contact followed by him starting to laugh was just too much. …friends often tell me I should not play poker, whatever my look was, apparently this was one of the moments.
I digress.
He started laughing. Then, I started. No Bueno. He got up and left for a bit. I regrouped. I sat there….good behavior. Serious. Contemplating if a hot poker or a bed of nails or having each hair pulled out of my head (one at a time) would hurt less. Finally, the presentation was over. Said colleague returned to the room.
After the meeting, I left. Straight faced. Filter replaced. I. Was. Professional. And then….a board member stopped me. The white haired gentleman asked, “What was so funny? I saw you giggling.”
After apologizing, I responded, “I just thought the one presentation was a little convoluted.” He replied in TOTAL seriousness, “I didn’t hear it; I turned my hearing aid off about 2 minutes in. What happened?”
My pent up laughter found its way back out.
After getting home, I received a phone call from the wife of said colleague (who is also a friend) who stated, “Please tell me the story. Every time Fred <name changed to protect the not-so-innocent> starts to tell the story, he laughs so hard, I can’t understand. He said I have to call you.
Now…why, just why, was I the one that got called out by the board member? Why was I the one to give a play-by-play of the happenings? Some say....because I start it! Oh Well. Life is short. Embrace it.
May today be full of just as many laughs, but maybe at more appropriate times!