laughing out loud

today was one of those rare days when i actually thought of my dad and laughed! and not just laughed, but laughed. out. loud! and not just out loud, but i literally had to stop my car for a second and collect myself. this was the first memory of my dad that made me bust a gut!

so today didn't start off too well. i woke up this morning at 11:20 (perfection is beauty, and beauty is sleep). now i can generally get ready, out the door and get to work, all in 15 minutes. but today was just not going well. it didn't help that it has been raining all night and didn't stop until 3 this afternoon.

just as i was heading out the door, i got a phone call from one of my managers saying that i actually started at 11:15, not 11:45! great way to start the day. so i run out the door and sped to work. now i always take the same route to work... i could almost do it blindfolded. sometimes i often wonder how i get to work because the drive has become so much a part of my life that sometimes when i am driving down that street, i end up going to work... when i am not even scheduled.

so as i am driving this morning through the rain, i am not exactly focused on what is around me. i don't use my wipers when it is raining (which, i know, defeats the purpose of having them), because i have this rain-x stuff that is on my windshield, and i love it! anyways, because i was more focused on getting to work, all i noticed was the leaves that were on the road... i didn't notice that they were floating on a giant puddle of water!

it was at the precise moment when i ploughed through the water that my dad came into my mind.

my dad was a great story teller. i know now how much i took for granted the countless stories he told over and over again. like one such story he would always tell me on rainy days.

my dad grew up in montana. one of my most favouritest places in the world! there was one particular rainy evening when he was cruising down the main drag, he noticed, not 2 blocks away, were 2 girls huddled together under their umbrella trying to keep dry. my dad, being the gentleman that he was at 18, could think of only one thing to do to these poor, soaking wet, cold girls... drive through the puddle that was in front of them as fast as he could! all he could see through his rearview mirror was the tidal wave landing on them and them shaking their fists and more than likely shouting profanities at him.

that is what i thought of as the deafening sound of water splashed in every direction. as the cars sped past me, i envisioned those 2 girls shouting profanities at me (because i am sure that every other car on the road with me was indeed saying more than one curse word as they got the majority of my tsunami).

i was late for work, of course. but i had a good, well needed, laugh! my day at work wasn't the greatest, but having my dad make me laugh this morning, was in actuality, the best way i could have started out.