10 Wonderful Years ... 10 Funny Memories

A huge part of our married life has revolved around laughter. We find ourselves in funny situations that are best handled by a good old laugh often. Some that come to mind are:






1. On a trip to Hawaii, we ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Bert ordered Pho and it was terrible. I understand that it is a very common dish, but for some reason, this did not work for us. So, here we are in Hawaii, setting out to have a fantastic vacation, and we start it off with Bert consuming a bowl of something that smells closer to bodily functions than any food product with which I have even been in contact.



2. We'll just get the food funnies out of the way first ... when we were in Barcelona we were looking for a place to eat dinner. It was a lovely summer evening and we just wanted a nice little outdoor cafe. We had been sight-seeing ALL day and Bert's legs were about to give out on him. I saw a little side street that looked perfect, but we were standing in front of a kind of fancy place. Bert refused to walk one more step, so we ate at the expensive, fancy place. After perusing the menu, we order our food and it comes out after a short wait. I think I laughed my head off when I saw Bert's dinner ... Macaroni and Cheese ... It was just a plate of cheesy noodles ... that dinner cost us about $70 in all ... totally overpriced. As we left the restaurant we ended up walking down the street nearby and, sure enough, there was a cheap (but charming) little cafe right there. However, if we had eaten there, we wouldn't have the $70 Mac and Cheese story to share. Some things are just worth the extra money.



3. While we were in Spain we met up with a friend of mine in Madrid. We ended up staying with her for a few days, she was very kind to share her home with us. Our first night there we were driving into the middle of Madrid to meet up with her husband. It was so funny to watch Bert go crazy with the instructions she was giving. She hardly ever drove and she is slightly (wonderfully) crazy, so she would point to a small street to turn on right when it was time to turn. I thought Bert was going to loose his mind, but, somehow we made it and still had a great evening wandering the streets of Madrid on a warm summer night (a highly recommended activity)!





4. One more story from our trip to Europe. We ended up taking a few days and driving into Southern France. We were directed by a wonderful friend of mine to an incredible place called Rocamadour. The whole "town" is one "street" on a cliff, our hotel was in the middle of that "street". To get onto the street you have to drive through an arch. Bert approached the arch at an angle and ended up getting us almost stuck in the arch. He kept trying to get the car through, backing and going forward and then backing up some more. But it just didn't seem to work. And it didn't help that by now we had a whole big group of French people looking at us and pointing and laughing, I don't know how Bert made it through that one, but he did. And he can say that he has been the laughing stock of an entire village in France! :)



5. We moved into the home we are now in on March 31, 2001. I was the one to go to the house and get the keys and learn where all the emergency shut offs were, since Bert had to work late that night. We spent our first night there and in the morning were very excited to start settling in. Bert got in the shower and all was well. Then I got in the shower and he comes running in yelling, "Where's the water shut off valve? There is water spraying out everywhere? Where's the valve?" I jump out of the shower and frantically try to remember, I am running all over the house trying to recall that important piece of information. I am ready to just go turn the water off in the street (yes, I am clad only in a towel) when Bert helps me to remember what day it is ... April 1, 2001 ... he got me GOOD!



6. One thing I learned early on in our marriage is that Bert has some anxiety when he is at the wheel. He epitomizes an old VW commercial about how the passenger has responsibilities just as much as the driver in any vehicle he operates. I learned this the hard way, however, but now take my passenger responsibilities much more seriously when we are together in the car. One time we were at a drive-thru. We ordered our food and went up to the window to pay. Bert hands over the money and is handed back some change. He LITERALLY throws the change at me so that he can move forward so that he doesn't hold up the line. We pull up and while I am still trying to pick up quarters and dimes and dollars that had just flown my way, all the sudden food is heading for me. I let the money go and decide to do my best to catch the food because he is already starting to drive off again! I had to learn to be prepared and ready to "catch" whatever is coming my way when we do fast food. But, just a little update, after me laughing at him quite a bit, his drive-thru anxiety has decreased significantly.



7. One of my very favorite things he does with the kids has them in stitches every single time. Whenever we have a spray can of whipped cream (not very often mind you), he is able to convince one of the kids to come near him and gets it on their face. They fall for it every single time and he is usually about to get us all and we are all in stitches within minutes of whipped cream coming out of the can. And if you are a guest in our home don't think you will get any special treatment, you are just as much in danger of whipped cream flying your way as any of the rest of us.





8. There is that whole incident about a blouse I own ... that actually made it on the blog as it happened this past summer. It might be considered a disagreement to some, but since we laughed our heads off, I count it as one of our funnier moments.





9.

This one just killed me ... I was playing with Photofunia one day and created this little image ... Bert tattooed on Beckham! (this is Bert in his hippy days ... he still misses those) I seriously was laughing so hard it made me cry!






10 . And this morning I woke up to the sounds of my baby screaming. It's a Saturday and, as usual, Bert gets up with the kids and lets me get a little extra rest. As I was sleeping sounding, I was jarred awake by the sounds of a very unhappy baby. I rushed upstairs to see what could be causing my baby so much pain or anxiety or whatever it might be. And there was Bert, right next to him singing away. Yes, his singing makes our baby cry like he would if his arm was being cut off.