Wednesday, February 9, 2011

February chuckles for winter blues

Thought you might be interested in a little story (true) about a six-year-old son of a friend. Jeremy had been bringing home his papers from school, on which for many days, the teacher had expressed sadness and disappointment at the quality of his work. Then one day, to the surprise of his parents, he brought home a happy face and commendation from his teacher.
Calmly, his father inquired, "What happened today that is different from those other days, Jeremy?"
"Oh Dad," Jeremy replied, "The teacher was unhappy that I was drawing outside the lines; so today, I drew my picture and then drew the lines around it."
                                                           
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And then there is the story, (also apparently true) about the priest who was travelling, by train, a good distance from Vancouver to Calgary, without wearing his clerical collar. (As we all know, clergy are frequently having their ear bent by individuals wanting to tell their "story" or also by those seeking to know the priest's own story.)
As the train trip progressed, our priest, (we'll call him Bob), was continually interrupted in his quiet reading by a passenger adjacent to him in the coach. The passenger was insistent to know what Bob did in his career.
"Are you in sales?" came one inquiry, only to be met with silence from Bob.
"Are you an engineer?" "A lawyer?" "An accountant?"...the questions jack-hammered the priest into total frustration...Silence was clearly not working, in his attempt to rebuff the interrogation. Finally, having come to the end of his 'rope' Bob shouted at the passenger, "I 'm a f---ing priest!"
The rest of the trip was very quiet and peaceful.

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And then there is the story (also true) of a quiet retired gentleman who was watching a television news program with his spouse, on a cold winter evening in a city some distance from where they had lived and raised their family for many decades. These were clean living, quiet even somewhat boring people, but responsible in a dour Presbyterian way, he having been a member of the Session of his former church home, and she having sung in the chuch choir.
The announcer had apparently learned of the news that a casino was to be built on a First Nations Reservation quite close to the town in which our elderly couple had first lived.
The gentleman, on hearing of this development, without even a hint of a smile, turned to his spouse of sixty years and commented wryly, "Gee, maybe we should have stayed; we could have gone there."
His surprised spouse could not contain herself, given the irony and the impeccable timing of the observation.

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Everyone has a story similar to this one, about questions from babes that come at precisely the "right" moment. It seems our leading lady was driving on the busiest street in town, at the rush-hour, on her way to the mall, with her four-year-old daughter sitting in her child's seat in the back of the car. Paying close attention to the traffic on all sides of her car, she was startled to hear these words from the rear seat:
"So Mummy, Where do babies come from?"
All reports indicate the our shocked driver was able to keep the car in the appropriate lane of traffic, while pondering the answer and repressing her own laughter not only at the question but it's timing and the age of the little girl.

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