The Sound of Laughter…

Last weekend we took the kids to “Joburg Day”. Yes, along with 19 995 other people, we picnicked and camped out and listened to the best of SA music all day. It was a great day! I got to dance with the boys and they felt quite grown up because they were at a ‘real live concert’ with ‘real live singers’ that are usually in the radio in the car. It was loads of fun.

On the way home, we were all reminiscing and telling each other who our favourite bands were and which songs were the best and worst, and then Daniel, in all his 5yr old innocence (or more likely in an unguarded moment), said “YES! They were crap”. Well, Rob almost crashed. I spun around in my seat in astonishment and said “Sorry Danny, what did you say?” and Jason and Nicholas almost fell off their seats in fits of laughter.

Now there is nothing Daniel loves more than making his brothers laugh. So of course he pushed his luck a bit and said “What? What’s wrong with crap?” And again his brothers disintegrated into fits of giggles. At this point, Rob was also giggling, and as much as I tried to be the grown up in the car, Rob’s giggling finished me off.  So there we were, all 5 of us, in fits of giggles. Of course, the bandwagon was a free for all then and Jason said “DANNY! YOU SAID CRAP!” and Nic had to climb on too with “So? It’s just crap! It’s better than SHIT-AKE mushroom!” and so it went… Rob leading the giggles, I might add!

Of course, give them a free-for-all opportunity like that and it disintegrates pretty quickly from there. Fortunately we were almost home so I said, “OK boys, everyone gets to say it one more time and then as soon as the gate opens it’s over, ok?” and so they did and it was over. But the giggling didn’t stop and the reminiscing about it went on right through bath time until bed time.

When I tucked Nic into bed, he said “Mommy, that was so much fun! When Danny first said it I held my breath ‘cos I thought you guys were going to be mad! But then YOU LAUGHED! I’m so glad you guys aren’t old parents”.

As I walked out his room I thought to myself that it could so easily have been different. I could have turned to Daniel and said “DANIEL HOLMES! What did you just say!?” … you know, in THAT voice, and he would have been upset and I could have been all stern and authoritative… but it ended up being such a funny thing, and there really is nothing like a good laugh to create a lasting, warm family memory, is there?

So remember folks, don’t be ‘old parents’. Have fun with your family – those are the times that lasting memories are made of!