The embarrassment of a situation can, once you are over it, be the funniest time in your life.
~Miranda Hart
My folks had come to visit a few days before we all left on our family vacation. We were headed to the Bruce Peninsula in Canada. We had moved my parents into our bedroom, and my husband Joe and I were on a blow-up mattress in the living room. All was well — or at least I thought it was — when I went down to the basement to get something. When I came back up, things had definitely changed.
I entered the living room and found Joe already in bed. When he heard me come into the room, he said he had something to tell me. Apparently, he had not been aware that I had headed to the basement a few minutes earlier, and he had walked over to the person at the kitchen sink, thinking it was me. When my blind husband reached the sink, he placed his hand on what he thought was my bottom. Unfortunately for Joe, it was not my butt; it was my mother’s! She was standing there taking her evening pills. When Joe touched her behind, she swallowed and said, “I’m taking my pills.” She then turned to leave, giggling all the way to the bedroom.
My husband was devastated. He had just goosed his mother-in-law. Joe went immediately to the living room and crawled into bed.
Meanwhile, my mom had stopped laughing long enough to tell my dad what had just happened in the kitchen. My father came out of the bedroom and walked into the living room. He looked down at Joe and said, “Thanks for warming her up for me.” With that, he left the room.
Shortly after that, I came to bed, and that is when Joe told me what had just happened. I could not stop laughing. I headed to the bathroom. When I passed my folks’ room, I knew they were still up by the sound of laughter coming from their room. I opened the door, and the three of us laughed together. And while we laughed, my husband lay in the living room, mortified.
The next day, the story spread like wildfire. The usual response was uncontrollable laughter. However, a few of Joe’s friends actually asked him why he did it. They wanted to know what would compel Joe to do such a thing. Hearing Joe have to convince some of his friends that it was a mistake, and he didn’t know it was my mom, only made us laugh more. Just goes to show that when people get to know Joe, they sometimes forget that he cannot see and hold him to sighted standards. I believe that this is the way it should be.
As a result of Mom and Joe’s encounter at the sink, my mother has taken to calling out her location to Joe whenever he enters the room. Hearing my mom announce her coordinates always makes me smile. Poor Joe…
~Laura Dailey-Pelle
