grace in small things number twenty one:

everything that has to do with april fools day. the tradition, the memories, the trickery, the laughs...

when i was a kid i always looked forward to the first day of april. seriously. i don't know why. maybe it stems from having two older brothers who always liked to get in to some kind of trouble. i would plot and scheme for what felt like eternity (although it was probably just the last week of march) for some spectacular idea on a way to fool my brothers.

i never (not once) fooled them.

i don't remember many april fools very clearly. i think the best of them happened when i was pretty young. they probably stopped getting so exciting when my brothers grew up. i think i enjoyed them so much, because they were a bonding experience for us.

i remember one year, my brother michael ran into my bedroom one morning before school. "erin, quick wake up! someone broke a window on mom's car!" i remember that moment very clearly. i was PANICKED! "oh no!" i thought, "how could something like that happen? the world must be coming to an end!" (well, maybe those weren't my exact thoughts, but i remember thinking that something major had just happened in my life.)

i remember running down the stairs with my brother chasing behind me laughing the whole way (that probably should have been the first clue that he was lying...duh!) i asked my mom if it was true. i don't remember what she said, but she confirmed my laughing brother's story. and then i remember going over to the kitchen table, sitting down and bursting into tears.

all because of a broken window!

i feel as if something really funny happened on april fools in the past few years, but i can't put my finger on it. i'm having a hard time recollecting other april fools.

anyway, point is... i'm grateful for this tradition that has maneuvered its way through my life. it obviously had a big impact on me because i've been thinking all week about possible april fools day jokes i can play on people!

what about you? do you do anything special for april fools, or do you just ignore it? did anything exciting happen this year? let me know!