The attribute of light heartedness

My brother and I have had our share of adventures.

Today’s was minor, but adventuresome none the less. We had stopped and picked up a couple of Starbuck’s drinks. I tend to go with the grande caramel macchiato. He’s a bit of an aficionado. He has the app on his phone with money loaded and ready to go. He ordered the white peppermint mocha, and something about stirred not shaken. I don’t know.

He handed me my cup and I mentioned how sloppy the barista was in making my drink. Caramel was drizzled all down the sides of the cup. It was a sticky mess. (My life is very tough at times.) We made a stop and I went to place the cup in the cup holder until my return and then I remembered the stickiness. Not wanting to dirty his cup holder, I just sat it on top of the console making note to be careful upon my return.

Upon said return, he made his way into the driver’s seat while I slid into the passenger side. Forgetting all about the coffee, my elbow knocked it over and into the side of my brother. In a flash, he sat forward and exclaimed loudly, “Ow! That’s hot!” I knew I had hit it, so as quickly as I could, I went to grab the cup and watched coffee just pouring out of the sipping hole in the lid. The liquid ran into the crack of seat like it was drinking it up. By the time I had a grasp on the cup, his side was soaked with coffee, his seat was pooling up and the rear floor mat had caught much of it.

I expected rage. At least some stern anger directed my way. Instead, he burst out laughing. Oh, sweet relief. Not for him, but for me. Surely, he would be upset. The car, the floor, the seat, his shirt, his pants, his second degree burns, something should have ignited rage. Instead, he just said, “All I could think to say was, ow, that’s hot.” So standing in a department store parking lot, we are both laughing our heads off at the situation.

I offered to dry clean or replace his shirt. I offered to rub a healing balm on his tender skin. He would have none of it. We laughed it off and went on with the day.

When things go badly, you can lose your mind, say things you regret and burn bridges.

Or, you can keep it in perspective and have a good laugh.

Why so serious?