Raoul’s Two Cents: September 29, 2023

Awkward

Laura, an old friend, passed away last week and Maristella (a close friend of Laura) decided to throw a religious death ritual. The intention was good but (unless Laura recently converted to another religion) I was pretty sure Laura did not believe in this tradition. Awkward, huh? Unfortunately for Laura, she had no say in the matter. A funny thought came to mind: I imagined Laura rolling out of her grave and appearing in the middle of all the long prayers demanding whose bright idea this was and everybody pointed to Maristella. Snap! That Kodak moment would have gone viral.

Have you ever been so embarrassed that you wanted to melt like ice cream in the Sahara desert? Let me share one awkward situation several years ago.

My family was assigned to read a few verses in church during Advent of the Christmas season. Our 3 kids were still very young and it was always a gargantuan effort to arrive in church on time. That fateful morning all hell broke loose: my wife was doing her makeup and I was packing up the diapers and milk bottles while memorizing my line … all the while counting down the clock before departure. It was a miracle that we got to the church with moments to spare.

The stage director motioned to us to get backstage and prepare to deliver our lines. Looking down to pray that everything would run smoothly, I noticed my shoes were of different colors. To my shock, one was brown, the other was black. Horror of horrors! My wife noticed it too. We looked at each other in disbelief. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Go! Go!” cried the stage director.

We catapulted into the middle of the huge congregation with our red tomato faces. We never dared look down. Thank God the kids were adorable and got the attention. We said our lines. We walked out biting our tongues with serious piety. No one even noticed. Then we laughed and laughed.

Ahh life … and death. With our sense of humor, the bloopers and traditions make living as exciting as … as a Fiddler on the Roof!

TGIF People!

“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.” – Mark Twain

“In my culture, there’s a tradition that when you’re in an overwhelming situation and you don’t know what to do, you put yourself in a woman’s shoes.” – Ang Lee, director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, California

Parting Shots

Thanks to Mike of New York

Thanks to Maling of New Manila, Philippines

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre. CA

Thanks to Garie of Paranaque, Philippines

I found these

The Traveling Boy

My good friend (and jokester) Terry and I came up with these.

Got any good jokes? Come share it with rest of us!
Send me an email.

SUBSCRIBE