It isn't a wonderful moment at the end of a movie or tv show that you really enjoyed when you realize it's not actually completely over, you've got some bloopers. Maybe movies don't do this anymore, and it's just one more thing to relish from my childhood, but I love bloopers. They are just so funny. What's not to like about getting just a little bit more of that movie you loved!
Wouldn't it be nice in life we could have bloopers? If we could say, "I did that wrong, I made a fool of myself. Let's take it again from the top." Sadly, in most cases, that's not a possibility. I hate those cringey moments, but they happen to everyone, right? (I'm going to tell myself they do because it gives me a little bit of comfort) One such moment for me happened when I was in college. I was asked out by this guy who was definitely cooler than me. I was honestly so surprised when he asked me out because I could tell he was "out of my league" in a sense. (In a completely other way I was WAY to good for him, but that's another story for another day) Anyways, he asked me out and I was SUPER nervous for the date because honestly I was just so shocked he asked me out in the first place. I should have known the date was going to be rough when we got in the car and he asked me what kind of music I liked. If you know me very well, you know I love listening to music. I know songs from many different genres. I can't be in the car without the radio playing, and if I don't know the words, you better believe I'm singing along pretending I know them anyways. There were a million good answers I could have given this boy to his question, but I could think to answer was that I was really into the song "Price Tag" by Jessie J. Even at the time, I knew the song wasn't THAT great, but for some reason that is the only thing I could think to say. That was just the beginning. The whole date I was so incredibly awkward. It was like I wasn't even on the date. Someone had taken over my body, and I was watching everything from a socially responsible distance. The worst part of it was that I could NOT stop saying "legit". "Have you ever been hiking?" "Yeah, it's legit." "What position do you play in volleyball?" "I'm a setter, I'm pretty legit." "Have you ever been to Arizona?" "No, but I hear it's legit." It was a legit nightmare. I kept telling myself to snap out of it, but I just couldn't. Needless to say he didn't ask me out again. And I, legit, was relieved. That whole evening would be a blooper in my life!
I guess there is one reason I wouldn't actually want to have bloopers in life, erasing embarrassing moments from existence. They become great stories later in life, and you usually learn something along the way too. This all makes me think of Elder Joseph B Worthlin's talk, "Come What May, and Love It". In this talk Elder Worthlin shares some advice given to him from his mother. She taught him that no matter what happens in life to love it. He shares some ways to love hard times, and one way is to learn to laugh. He shares,
There is an antidote for times such as these: learn to laugh.
I remember loading up our children in a station wagon and driving to Los Angeles. There were at least nine of us in the car, and we would invariably get lost. Instead of getting angry, we laughed. Every time we made a wrong turn, we laughed harder.
Getting lost was not an unusual occurrence for us. Once while heading south to Cedar City, Utah, we took a wrong turn and didn’t realize it until two hours later when we saw the “Welcome to Nevada” signs. We didn’t get angry. We laughed, and as a result, anger and resentment rarely resulted. Our laughter created cherished memories for us.
I remember when one of our daughters went on a blind date. She was all dressed up and waiting for her date to arrive when the doorbell rang. In walked a man who seemed a little old, but she tried to be polite. She introduced him to me and my wife and the other children; then she put on her coat and went out the door. We watched as she got into the car, but the car didn’t move. Eventually our daughter got out of the car and, red faced, ran back into the house. The man that she thought was her blind date had actually come to pick up another of our daughters who had agreed to be a babysitter for him and his wife.
We all had a good laugh over that. In fact, we couldn’t stop laughing. Later, when our daughter’s real blind date showed up, I couldn’t come out to meet him because I was still in the kitchen laughing. Now, I realize that our daughter could have felt humiliated and embarrassed. But she laughed with us, and as a result, we still laugh about it today.
The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable.
Life happens. Things don't always go the way we want. We do dumb stuff. It's probably best if we don't take ourselves too seriously, and learn to laugh at our dumb moments.
Happy birthday, Lollie! You are a wonderful person, and an even better friend. I think you are a great example at someone who can take life as it comes, and laugh at the hard moments.
When Annie was one, we unknowingly started one of my favorite traditions. Ethan and I bought a singing Christmas Owl at Target when we were first married. He sang and danced to "Treasure" by Bruno Mars, and apparently we just had to have it! When Baby was little, she liked to dance to it. Four years later, he makes an appearance every year at the end of February to help us remind Lollie how much we treasure her! In the spirit of keeping the good times rolling, here are some bloopers from today as we've put together our birthday video for Lollie! I hope you enjoy them Lollie! Happy Birthday!
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