12:21:23 am on
Thursday 05 Dec 2024

April Fools Day
Jennifer Flaten

Today, I would like to talk about a very serious subject. No, not really, April Fools. You didn’t really believe me did you? Have I ever talked about anything seriously?

No, I haven’t, except for that time, I discussed whether carrot cake is a dessert or if it counts as a vegetable. For the record, I say both.

If you haven’t figured it out, I don’t like to be serious, it’s, well, too serious. That being said I am not really an April fool kind of person. I really don’t see the fun in tricking people

Perhaps, this is because I was an extremely gullible child. When I was little my mother told me that the rug in our bathroom was made of dog fur and I believed her. I would like to say she is a very convincing liar, but sadly, she isn’t I was just that easy to trick.

Of course, now I live with a house full of people who still believe in Santa Clause and the Easter bunny. Just like little me at that age, they are not hard to fool. In fact, I am sure I too could make them believe the rug in our bathroom was made of dog fur, if I so desired.

I know all the kids reported that their teachers were immensely pleased that this year the first fell on a weekend. I can just imagine what the junior miscreants at school think is a good prank. This day and age, I assume it in some way involves YouTube.

I hated working on April Fools. There was always some joker in the office that made it his mission to prank everyone. It usually involved removing the hardware from your chair.

Sometimes the pranks can be funny, but most often people use it as a reason to be mean. Your co-worker who put rat poison in the creamer and then yelled April fool isn’t funny. He or she is really trying to kill you.

Besides there is no cake or presents involved in April Fool's Day, if there were then maybe I would be more inclined to celebrate. The holiday I really like is Easter. It has cute little bunnies and chicks, I am a sucker for tiny fluffy animals, candy is mandatory and the gifts, bikes, jump ropes, bubbles and so forth meant to get the kids out of the house.

After a long winter, that is exactly what I want to do, get the kids out of the house. This year we had a teaser of summer to come, for a very brief period the temperatures were in the 80s. It was wonderful, the birds were singing, the flowers were blooming, the kids were outside leaving me in peace and quiet and then bam winter came back.

Today was a mere 50 degrees. I am not the only one who is disgruntled, the kids love being outside. If they are outside, they can run and scream to their hearts content, inside not so much. When the kids are inside I am the one screaming, but instead of in glee, it is “Be Quiet.” Counterproductive, I know, but that's life at our house.

Right now, I don’t care if Easter Sunday is minus 45 degrees the kids are going to be outside playing with their new, whatever. I can hide those eggs so it will take them a long time to find them.

Jennifer Flaten lives where the local delicacy is fried cheese, Wisconsin. She writes about family life, its amusing or not so amusing moments. "At least it's not another article on global warming," she says. Jennifer bakes a mean banana bread and admits an unusual attraction to balloon animals and cup cakes. Busy preparing for the zombie apocalypse, she stills finds time to write "As I See It," her witty, too often true column. "My urge to write," says Jennifer, "is driven by my love of cupcakes, with sprinkles on top. Who wouldn't write for cupcakes, with sprinkles," she wonders.

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