by Joanne Wiklund
Isn’t it funny what some people consider humor? I can’t laugh at people doing things where they get hurt. Some things are only funny after the fact. As a newspaper correspondent I arrived late for a Hillsdale village board meeting. I parked in front of the fire station where the meeting was held and hurried in. After a couple of hours I came back out and crawled into my car, ready to be home. Leaning forward in the driver’s seat, I smelled something. I glanced over and the ash tray on the dash was pulled out and it was overflowing with burnt cigarettes. I have never smoked. I was not in my own car. I was sitting almost on the floor. There was junk all over the seats. I yanked open the door and flew out of there. Then I walked back to my car which was parked right behind the one I’d just fled. They were identical, year, make and model. Color, too!
I went to a staff meeting in Rock Island downtown at Project Now. It was late afternoon and it had been raining off and on, As I got out of my car I noticed the driver’s window was all the way down on the car I’d just parked beside. It was going to pour again any minute. So I did the neighborly thing. I opened the car door and rolled the window all the way up. It was an older heavy car so I slammed the door a little so it would be sure to shut and latch.
The door slammed shut nicely. As I turned away from it, the glass window slid down into the interior of the door. I stared at it, then opened it, rolled it up and tenderly closed the door till it latched. I stood there a minute or two and once again watched the glass disappear into the depths of the door. I looked around to see if there was anyone nearby with a camera. Candid Camera was very popular at the time. I went into the office as the rain started once again. The receptionist and one of the young staff members were talking and as I walked up to them, the young man asked me,”Is it raining yet?”
I said, “No, but it’s about to let loose any minute.”
Then he asked, “Was my driver’s side window down?”
I said,”Well, I rolled it up.”
He said,”Thank you.”
“You don’t understand,” I said. “It didn’t stay up. It fell down in the door. Twice. I didn’t quit. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it stay.” He and the receptionist broke into unchecked laughter. “That’s okay,” he said, when he finally got his breath. “It did that to me twice on the way down here. I just asked her if she had tape and some plastic wrap to tape over the window.”
I’m sure you have had your own embarrassing moments which you would rather forget. But look forward to your Golden Years when you can laugh at them.
Jeremiah 31:13 “…for I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow.”
Luke 10:20 “But rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”