Life With The Warm Fuzzies and Cryptosporidium Practical Jokes

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I have a talent for catastrophizing, but I also have a talent for fun — two poles on the orb of my head that account for the pull in their respective directions. In the winter, the orb tends to tilt toward worries — while in the summer, toward fun. But I mix and match. Maybe the better way to describe my orb is as a wobble sphere, back and forth all day — first, concerned about something, then laughing my buns off.

This is life with a wobblehead orb.

But since fun is a preferred state of mind, I try to coax, tease, and reason with myself that fun is the way to go as a wanderer of this planet. I’ve been successful with that. I’ve had plenty of fun, and for this, I’m appreciative. Life is a wonderful thing if you have laughs by your side.

Fun can be a small thing or large — a giggle or a huge production. It can be a funny musing or a trip halfway around the world — if that’s fun for you. These days, since Covid, I like a trip halfway around my couch.

Then there are practical jokes. I come from a set of siblings who value them. Our pranks have been elaborate, with disguises and planning, travel and intricate timing. I think the zenith of our efforts was when the joke was on me — at my wedding no less.

My wedding was an intentionally casual two-day affair with lots of activity — boating and softball at my grandparents’ lake house, volleyball games and dancing at my aunt’s house, and dining tables set up with a variety of games on them. We wanted folks to have fun.

On the day before the wedding, folks gathered at my grandparents’ house so the two families could meet each other and share some outdoor activities. There’d be water-related things to do, as my mom’s family spent generations summering or residing on Pennsylvania lakes.

Before the day got into full swing, there was a knock on the front door. I went to answer it.

“Ma’am, are you the owner of this house?” the woman standing there asked. She had an official identity tag hanging from her neck as proof she was from the Department of Health.

Just a quick fyi. If you ever want to pull off a fabulous practical joke, you’ll need these fake identity tags.

“No. This is my grandparents’ house,” I said, “Is there a problem?” This woman seemed very urgent about something.

“Ma’am, we’ve been notified there’s a huge Cryptosporidium outbreak in the lake water. No one can go into that lake. This is dire.”

As luck would have it — and not any bit due to the practical jokers — my husband’s siblings and cousins rolled into the driveway at that very moment from a short jaunt to the other side of the lake where, as they proudly told us, they’d just gone swimming. They were dripping wet. With Cryptosporidium. This was dire indeed. Suddenly I was in a tizzy.

“Oh my god. This is terrible. My wedding weekend starts today. What are we going to do?!”

The official Health Dept. representative asked to see the property’s lakefront. As I escorted her to the patio overlooking the lake, I could see another representative with an official tag around his neck stretching legitimate yellow caution tape across the water’s edge. This was real.

As soon as I saw that man blocking off the lakefront with the tape, I knew this was a big deal.

Folks in my family had gathered around us and listened to this woman explain what we needed to do. The house’s expansive second-floor string of windows overlooking the lake was crowded with my wedding guests watching the big drama unfold below. I looked up at them, mouthing, Oh my god! They looked down at me smiling.

Why were they smiling?

In short order, the one word that my siblings and I used to reveal all our practical jokes was uttered — Costa Rica. Long story on that one, but the so-called Health Dept. representative found a way to insert it into her explanation about the devastation a Cryptosporidium exposure would cause.

When I heard the word, my mind went bonkers. I tried to shift reality frameworks on a dime. I’d been tricked.

The wedding guest list stood at the window above me, giggling in unison. The “official” Health Dept. rep was the wife of my old childhood neighbor whom I’d never met. The fellow installing the caution tape at the water’s edge was that old neighbor in disguise. My sister had orchestrated the whole thing.

You might think a practical joke isn’t a very nice thing to do to a bride, and if so, please don’t think I’m a weirdo. To this day, that joke is one of my favorite memories of my wedding. It’s hard to calculate how many laughs my family has gotten from the word Cryptosporidium these last 29 years.

That’s the thing about fun. When you have it, it becomes part of your life’s story.

Fun doesn’t require such orchestration though. It can be an interesting conversation, an upbeat read, a creative activity, or recreational games. It’s about joy, laughter, amusement, pleasure, and appreciation. It’s about endless things that leave a positive mark on our mood, day, and history.

The thing about fun is that it’s better to have it now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not when we’re out of the weeds. Not when the kids are older, or the baby sleeps through the night. Not after the promotion or that new job adjustment phase. Or when there’s more cash. Or when it’s sunny out — especially don’t wait for it to be sunny out. I’ve found fun is nice to have when I’m not in the mood for it. It’s often the reason I can leave that mood behind.

Sometimes I must drag myself to the fun, and this is wise because fun begets fun. Knitting, gardening, and drawing have been known to pull me from gloom like nothing else.

For me, fun is anything involving my sons — years ago it was reading Captain Underpants to them, and later it was watching The Office together. Fun is the warm fuzzies with family and friends.

Fun is sitting outside in decent weather on the Adirondack chair and working on my laptop while my cat sleeps next to me.

Fun doesn’t have to be fake Cryptosporidium. Fun doesn’t have to take long. Fun is a decision to pivot from the weighty to the light, even for a moment, because it’s worth it.

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Have a nice week, friends.