April Fool's Day

Today is of course, the first day of April (where did March go?  Why does it always go so fast for me?), and as you all know, April Fool's Day.  I think it's fun to do silly things to fool someone, but will admit that I do not enjoy mean-spirited things or pranks, so I guess I fall somewhere in the middle.  When I worked at the University of Pennsylvania, the student paper there used to do an April Fool's issue - but not on April Fool's Day.  It was always brilliant, because the stories were *just* real enough that you would be going along, somewhat surprised or shocked by what was being reported, and then there would be some teeny tiny little fact or quote that would make you realize it was that edition.  Never on the same day, but always within a week of April Fool's Day.  I loved it.

Anyhoo, I was thinking about the various things that have amused me over the years, and decided to share three of my favorite April Fool's things for Three on Thursday.

1.  When I was growing up, one year on this day, one of my sisters said she was going to make herself a glass of iced tea, and would I like one.  Without thinking about the fact that it was kinda weird she was offering to get me one, I said sure.  So she handed me a glass, and I took a drink (fortunately not a big gulp) and she had filled the glass with mostly iced tea, but added vinegar - YUK!

2.  Before I worked at the natural history museum where I am now, I worked at a religious archives.  One of our co-workers was this uber-serious guy, who never thought anything was funny - unless my co-worker Lisa did/said it.  Lisa could do no wrong as far as he was concerned.  So one year on April Fool's Day, she left him one of those "While You Were Out" phone messages and said he received a call from Mr. T.R. Echs, with the number of the natural history museum.  He came back from lunch, called the number, and asked to speak to the person.  They of course said no one by that name worked there, and he kept saying "But I have a message to return the call of Mr. T.R. Echs," until about the third time when he said, "Oh you know what, I realize I had one of the numbers wrong, I apologize." Then he hung up the phone and called, "LISA!!!"  He thought it was funny, we thought it was of course hilarious, and now that I know who he was talking to at the museum, I realize that the woman is so clueless, she didn't know people who did work there anyway, even though she had worked there for years and was always losing calls because of it.  So it was just another day at work for her.  (For anyone who may not have figured out why "T.R. Echs" is funny, it's a play on "T-Rex.")

3.  This one is from a long time ago, but I still remember it and how even once I learned it was a joke, I was not completely convinced for a while.  I was probably 5 or 6 years old, and the whole family had been watching some TV show in the living room, when my mother got up to go to the kitchen.  Except, when she stood up, there was a small, colored egg on her chair!  She turned around and said, "Oh no, I must have laid another egg!"  My head just exploded with disbelief, and of course my dad and my sisters went along with it.  I kept saying, "But how did you do that??" and she kept saying "Well, it happens every once in a while," and I was JUST FLOORED.  Finally, she picked it up and showed it to me to prove it was just a small plastic egg, and though that proved it, I thought about that for weeks, trying to figure out if it really could have been possible.  I remember that my mother said that they all thought I'd "get it" pretty quickly, but I'm pretty sure that it was just so out of left field, I thought it *had* to be true.  When I think back on it now, it makes me laugh really hard, because I just can't believe I fell for it!

So IF someone plays an April Fool's joke on you, I hope it's one you can laugh about and enjoy.  

Also remember this fact - people do NOT lay eggs, especially colored ones!😂