Friday Funnies

Judging by a lot of Facebook posts and comments I've been seeing recently, I've concluded that people aren't sleeping very well. At 3 a.m., people are taking "Which Golden Girl am I?" quizzes and engaging in some interesting commentary on the state of their hair. Generally I sleep pretty well, but every so often I find myself wide away, mind racing about nothing particularly important. Last night was my night. Of course, the worst thing you can do when you can't sleep is pick up your phone, but I got so bored lying there listening to my mental dialogue, that I caved. It was comforting to see that I wasn't the only one.

We are all supposedly "fine." We reason that it could always be worse. We say we're hanging in there, trying to see the positives... like embracing all this unanticipated empty time to organize our digital photos (just kidding - no one is actually attempting to do this). But there isn't one person right now who's not suffering to some degree. That's why we're all up at night...that's when those voices we've been shushing all day sneak in and rise to the surface.

During the day, we can invent all sorts of ways to stay busy. For me, there's no need to create projects. I have plenty of clothes to fold, dishes to clean, and fights to break up. I blame sheer exhaustion for the reason I normally sleep well. But the bottled up fear and worry have to find some kind of outlet, which explains the occasional sleepless night.

But how do we quiet those voices? How do we assure ourselves that everything will be fine, that we will look at this one day and it will seem like a crazy dream? I'm not sure we can. But knowing we are not alone certainly helps.

So, without further ado, for those of you trolling your social media feed in the middle of the night, I hope these Friday Funnies divert your racing minds, at least for a little while.

Paige kicked the day off by asking what's on the schedule for today? Say, what? There's a schedule? It's her first day of spring break and we were supposed to leave for Florida today. Unfortunately, today's plans (or lack thereof) fail to measure up. So she made brownies. And ALL DAY I've been fending off kids who want to eat them for lunch. And snack. And dinner.

Kaleb, Cynthia, and Eleanor have been heavily absorbed in a game called "Doggy." I'm not entirely sure who the dog is or if they are all supposed to be dogs. Pants, as usual, for Cynthia, are optional. For some reason, they carry backpacks. And one of them is the mom so it confuses the hell out of me when they address the mom character. "Not you, mom," they say, rolling their eyes, as if I should be able to discern the difference between doggy mom and me. Anyway, it's keeping them entertained until one of the twins "quits" and Kaleb storms off in a huff.

And then there's Eleanor. She has figured out some very amusing technical tricks on her messenger apps. I receive about 20 of these videos a day. And lots of emojis. I'm going to have some great blackmail when she starts dating. And if you're wondering what she's saying, so am I.

This is a funny outtake from Paige and Kaleb's P.E. project. Actually, the one we wound up sending in still involves pushing and a lot of laughing. Oh well. It's the thought that counts.

So there you go - good luck catching some zzz's.

“But [Pooh] couldn't sleep. The more he tried to sleep the more he couldn't. He tried counting Sheep, which is sometimes a good way of getting to sleep, and, as that was no good, he tried counting Heffalumps. And that was worse. Because every Heffalump that he counted was making straight for a pot of Pooh's honey, and eating it all. For some minutes he lay there miserably, but when the five hundred and eighty-seventh Heffalump was licking its jaws, and saying to itself, "Very good honey this, I don't know when I've tasted better," Pooh could bear it no longer.”

―A.A. Milne,Winnie-the-Pooh