Adventures at Rasa Ranch #140

[Guest guest]

11/26/03

 

Today, Jim, Zack and I went to the annual celebration of Thanksgiving

at Ananda's school. The school is not big, and less than forty kids

were there, for sure. Each class had prepared a dish for the meal we

all shared together. It was really nice to break bread with the

teachers, students, and their parents. After eating, we all gathered

in another room to enjoy performances that the kids put on for us.

The children in Ananda's class were dressed like pilgrims and they

did movements while singing a song a two. They definitely won the

award for "cutest."

 

However, it was during the most serious five minutes of the whole

afternoon that Jim and I had our most memorable moment. One of the

fourth grade boys was standing up in front of the group. Now, mind

you, it was a small room and you probably couldn't hear a pin drop

but you could hear just about anything else. Jim and I were seated

right up front on the floor with Zacky going back and forth between

our laps.

 

So this very young man, who had just previously in the dining room

been full of zest and boyish mischief, got very unnaturally somber as

he spoke out in a perfect monotone and zombieface, his memorized

rendition of the Puritans' arduous first winter in America. As if

that wasn't humorous enough, the boy, himself, suddenly froze

mid-sentence as his eyes rolled way up to the ceiling searching for

the next few words, and in the middle of the thick silence that hung

in the air before he could snag them, his teacher burst in saying,

"Thank you, David."

 

Well, at that moment, Jim, a man of tremendous self-control, made that

sudden shrug that accompanies the super loud exhalation we all make

through our noses when we've just gotta laugh but it is *completely*

inappropriate to do so. His doing that hit my giggle button HARD. I

literally threw my face into the back of his armpit, hiding and trying

desperately to muffle the huge, revving wind-up sound I inherited from

my father that really can go on and on when I'm laughing very hard but

my vocal chords are on mute. My body was shuddering, my face was

getting hot and I was starting to sweat. All I had to do was *think*

about it and then there sparked the ignition to that laugh-engine,

firing up my whole being.

 

When I thought I'd gained composure, I sat back up as gracefully as I

could, but when the very corner of my eye caught the very corner of

Jim's, I found myself crumbled to pieces again. Fortunately, it

wasn't too long before the audience's enthusiastic applause at the

end of the skit allowed me the volume and space to exhale freely,

wipe the tears from my eyes, knock Jim affectionately on the shoulder

and sigh out the rest of my giggles before it got quiet again.