That's What I Get

For those of you who don’t know me well – or haven’t read this blog enough to form an opinion of my overall character – I have something I have to get off my chest. Here it is:

I find a certain amount of joy in beholding other people’s bad luck.

Now, to clarify, I didn’t say “misfortune” or “loss of life and limb”. No, I mean simply bad luck. Also, I think it only fair to mention that I also take great joy in laughing at my own bad luck. Those of you who’ve been my friends for a while may remember the Triple Sow Cow incident of ’01. Yep, my bad luck is pretty dang funny to.

Earlier this week – or perhaps last – there was a bit of a bad luck incident at the Hadley home. The jury is still out on who to blame here (mostly because I think it may have been me), but the indisputable fact is that someone left a library book on the stairs. My poor husband was coming down them in the dark, stepped on the book and performed something most men dread: the splits. He followed that sweet move by riding the book down the entire flight of stairs in a maneuver worthy of Olympic gold. Bad luck indeed!

I’m not trying to minimize his pain or anything, but part of me feels like maybe after 6 years of parenthood one would have learned that it’s nothing short of prudent to turn on a light and check the stairs before proceeding down. I’m just sayin’….

Anyhow, I tried to be sympathetic even though my very soul was crying out in laughter. It’s just funny. I’m sorry. I laugh when I fall down the stairs too. Falling = funny. If this wasn’t true then my favorite show, America’s Funniest Videos, would have never lasted for 20 glorious years!

Turns out it wasn’t all that funny. Yesterday found the hubs visiting a chiropractor in search of relief. Then today we went to the Instacare. You know it’s bad when the doc nails your knees with his nifty little instrument and your legs just sit there. Bad reflexes is a bad sign.

So, long story short, Hubs has a herniated disc and is on enough pain meds to make his skin turn green. Seriously, it’s green. He also has doctor’s orders to stay home from work at least thru Wednesday. Bummer.

Next time he falls down the stairs – because there WILL be a next time until he learns to look before you leap – I will not laugh. I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t laughed he would have been just fine.

From now on I’ll save my laughs for people I don’t live with. See, on AFV you never see the aftermath. It’s just funny. And when it’s your neighbor, well that’s just funny too. (The funniest is when it’s your sibling… ) But when its people in your house then suddenly you find yourself playing nursemaid…

And there’s NOTHING funny about that!