Comedy
This week: A Lot of Drama with a Little Comedy Edited by: Marci Missing Everyone More Newsletters By This Editor
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Hey y'all! Marci Missing Everyone here, and I'm ready to share some more funny family stories with you. I'm not normally a comedy writer, but no matter what genre we write in, we need to learn how to put in a little comedy. So I'm here to show you how we can take elements of everyday life and turn them into funny little inserts into your story!
Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. - George Bernard Shaw
At my age I do what Mark Twain did. I get my daily paper, look at the obituaries page and if I'm not there I carry on as usual. ~ Patrick Moore |
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Life. It never happens exactly as we think it should. Take, for example, the few weeks. I was called out of town unexpectedly as my grandpa rapidly declined in health. I arrived one day before he passed away. Thank God for letting me make it to see him one last time. Even though he passed on a Thursday, we had his memorial service the following Tuesday. We had to wait for family and friends to travel from Michigan, so the waiting could not be helped.
Now, understand something, I live on the coast… and I mean right on the coast… of South Carolina. You can probably already see where this is going… Hurricane Matthew. My parents live four hours inland and we didn’t have to worry about the weather by being there. But we couldn’t predict that the governor of our state would call for an evacuation the day after my grandpa’s funeral. My husband was fit to be tied because he had not secured the house or put up the hurricane shutters. We were so consumed with the grief of losing my grandfather that we didn’t think about the hurricane until it was too late.
Hurricane Matthew hit with a vengeance on Friday and Saturday. Not all of my friends or neighbors had evacuated, so we were able to keep in touch with them to see what happened with our home, etc. We were without power for almost three days and lost all of our food, and the storm ripped the door off of our utility shed, but other than that, we had very little damage. Again, I thank God. But it was torture waiting to get all the news from everyone. Now that we are back home and cleaning up, I have time to stop and contemplate all that’s happened.
While reading this letter, you might be saying to yourself, “Marci, what in the world does this have to do with comedy?” Well, let me tell you. Just as we need comic relief in our dramatic writing, we need comic relief in our dramatic lives. How would we ever get through without it?
Imagine this, I have two little dogs, my parents have a dog, and my brother who lives with them has a dog. All total, there are four little furry yappers running around when we visit. Honestly, for the most part, they are all pretty good, with the exception of my brother’s dog. He’s what we like to call a little “afflicted.” I’m not kidding. We believe the dog has OCD or something. So we play around with that term “afflicted” because we don’t like to use words like “retarded” or “stupid” when the kids do something silly or, let’s face it, stupid. I was teasing my nephew and told him he was a bit “afflicted” that day. My dad was sitting across the room and my brother’s dog was lying down next to him. My dad jokingly told me that my nephew wasn’t afflicted because he didn’t hang out with afflicted people, and my brother’s dog started growling. My mom and I cracked up.
The dogs are always doing stuff that cracks us up. Well, two days before I got to my mom’s, my grandpa had asked for some pie. So, my mom got him some pie and brought it to his bedroom. He was bedbound by that time. Normally the rule at my folks' house is “no dogs on the furniture.” But, my grandpa called them dogs up on the bed with him and gave them little pieces of that pie bite for bite along with him. My grandma was probably fussing at him all the way from Heaven. I can hear her now. “Harry, get them dogs off that bed.” She didn’t stand for such nonsense. But my grandpa really loved the dogs. My mom took some pictures and we all laughed over them. It was really the last time my grandpa joked and played. If not for these little animals and all the funny things they did, we would have been a lot more somber. They really kept us laughing at all their antics.
But we had one more bit of comedy relief while we were there. My cousin has a grandson named Isaac, and, oh my word, this boy is so funny. He is too smart for his own age. He’s four years old, and he acts like he’s a teenager. That’s because that’s all he has to hang out with. He says and does the funniest things, but the most hilarious thing happened because of something I did. My cousin Heather came up to me at the end of the visitation the night before the funeral and said Isaac wouldn’t go anywhere near my daughter, who had just arrived that afternoon because she was going to take his boots. That was a moment for me, and I felt bad but cracked up at the same time. My daughter LOVES boots. Most girls love shoes, but she just loves boots. Isaac got a new pair of boots on Saturday and wore them over to my parent’s house. I teased him about those boots and told him when Abby came she would take those boots if he didn’t hang onto them. I just thought he’d say, “uh-uh,” and be done with it. Not Isaac. What four-year-old kid is going to remember you playing around with him a couple nights before? So, I had to make things right and explain to this little boy that I was just teasing and Abby was not going to take his boots. *shakingmyhead* I guess that will teach me.
Now for the biggest comedy moment of this whole event… this is a laugh just for you. After almost everyone had left the church, I went up to the casket one last time to give my grandpa a private good-bye. We were so close when he was alive, and I was incredibly grieved with this loss. After I finished, I walked around to the end of the casket and looked through some of the flowers that others had sent. About that time, a huge popping noise over the loudspeakers gave me heart palpitations. I know my grandpa was gone to heaven, but God sent something to scare me to the core. At least that’s what I thought. But it was just my brother turning off the sound system. He didn’t know it would pop like that. I told him how much he scared me, and he about fell out laughing. So there you go. There is your comedy relief among all my sadness.
Thanks for listening to the ramblings of my dramatic couple of weeks. Thank God for comic relief!
Until next time… live, laugh, and write!
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From: papadoc1
Hey Marci, boy oh boy oh boy! (Or is it girl oh girl oh girl?!?) Read the NL and just as you warned me, it was filled with great Christian-inspired rock that brought great joy to your progeny! Inside my heart, I could see how things were moving along, and true-to-form, you're right about needing to be uber-sharp/observant about what kids wear to any kind of concert event! Capt. Marci gets the Blue Star for good parenting, along with Papa - who was there every minute keeping watch over an 11-year-old who adores dudes who rock The Fillmore West! This NL brought smiles to my world, what with how much I love Christ, how much I value family, how much I adore rock music - and so much more.
Keep on keepin' on!!
Papa Doc #1
PS- God 's you!!! *cross*
Thanks for that kind feedback. These kids are definitely at that age where they keep us on our toes!!!
From: Elfin Dragon-finally published
You know it's always hard to find really good Christian groups sometimes. Especially for the younger set. OBB, though on the lighter side of music, I think is one of those. (What does OBB stand for?) And though I'll be 47 this year, I love groups like PFR, Petra, Newsboys, White Heart, and a few of the other rock and metal bands out there. I know strange someone my age likes the heavier stuff, but my Ex got me listening to heavy metal bands and he wanted some Christen metal, so wallah. If you've not heard them I REALLY suggest PFR and White Heart. They're sort of middle of the road.
I have no idea what OBB stands for. And my kids aren't here right now for me to ask. I'm sure they would know. My kids really like Newsboys. I've heard that group name a lot. I think they were even in the movie "God's Not Dead" if I'm correct. My favorite groups are Casting Crowns and Point of Grace. I've never been into hard rock or metal, but my husband likes it. My son is more into Christian rap. So, lots of variety in this household...
From kdblueey
Hi, I am new to Writing.com and am still making my way amongst the endless possibilities that are offered for any, all writers.
First of all, I enjoyed the video of 'OBB'. I am not religious, by any standard, but this song was rather nice, so thanks for that.
Second, you mentioned an app that offers 'writing prompts'. Is there something that is offered through other means, other than an app: a download from some website, or something offered through Kindle?
Thank you,
Kathy Downey
Kathy! Welcome to WDC. I'm glad you are enjoying things and making use of all that is available here. And I'm glad you liked the song.
As far as the App goes, that was an advertisement that goes out with the newsletters. I didn't personally research it out. However, let me recommend a couple different things. Writing.com has a writing prompt on the HUB when you first enter the site, and they are ever changing. There are some great prompts through there. Also, many of our contests run by various members and groups utilize prompts to help along those ideas. So, if you don't find what you need in those two ideas, may I recommend going to Pinterest and typing "Writing Prompts" into the search. I have pinned some fantastic ideas on my board of Writing Help and Inspiration. Let us know how it turns out for you! |
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