Well That Was Fun!

Everyday life offers a myriad of potential challenges. It also offers a myriad of opportunities for humor and laughter. The Sisterhood can speak to both with a measure of authority. We have after all, a combined 195 years of experience on this earth.

Collectively, we prefer to dwell on the funny side of life (hence the above picture of Little Sis laughing as she wrote her contribution to this post.) I mean really, if you can’t laugh at yourself, life must be very dull indeed. So it is with great humility and perhaps a splash of laughter, we offer our thoughts on what we refer to as “Our Most Embarrassing Moment.” Who among us can’t relate to that?

Don’t Slam the Door on Your Way Out

By Big Sis

It was a dark and stormy night…..of course it was dark, night time is always dark, but it wasn’t stormy, just miserably cold. I was tucked warm and cozy in my hotel bed, sleeping peacefully when I was awakened by a loud noise. My first thought was that the previous occupant had set the alarm as a “joke”and I was their victim. A few stabs at the clock radio produced no result and I finally realized that I was hearing the fire alarm.

After the initial shock, I knew that I needed to react, and react I did. I decided that the wisest course of action would be to check the hallway and join other confused guests to clarify the situation. I stepped out into the hallway and much to my chagrin and horror, I immediately heard the click of the door closing behind me. I was now locked out of my room in my pyjamas (no housecoat), bare feet and no key! To further aggravate my situation, the hallway was empty!

After what seemed like an eternity, my razor sharp problem solving skills kicked in and I realized that my only option was to make my way to the lobby. And so to the piercing sound of the fire alarm, I descended 22 flights of stairs to finally reach what appeared to be the door to the lobby. Well that was too good to be true, because I opened the door only to be blasted with a whoosh of freezing cold air. Yes, I was looking at the street.

My first reaction was to start crying and I did feel the tears just waiting to fall, but I took a deep breath, put on my big girl panties and ventured into the unknown. I am directionally challenged at the best of times, and I initially turned in the opposite direction of the main door. Picture this: I am freezing cold, my feet are going numb and my head is down to avoid eye contact with passersby, hence it took a moment before I realized I was going in the wrong direction.

I finally turned around and entered the lobby. (Cue the tense, scary music.) I fully expected it to be crowded but to my surprise, there were only a few other naive worry warts standing around. ( Note, all were suitably attired in house coats and slippers.) The receptionist was explaining to the group that yes, a fire alarm had been set off mischievously by a group of young hockey players and the hotel was having difficulty turning it off….not to worry.

My final challenge was convincing the receptionist that I was indeed a hotel guest and gave him my room number as proof. It was obvious that he could hardly keep from laughing at me, but I assume he came to the conclusion that it was highly unlikely that I was some random idiot who just walked in off the street barefoot and in their pyjamas, trying to get a free room for the night.

The final indignity? I had to share the elevator with a group of party goers who had obviously been having a few drinks and felt the need to ask if these were my favorite “jammies,” did I have insomnia and were my feet cold? I grimly endured the sarcasm and hardly slept the rest of the night, because it was another full hour before they finally managed to turn the alarm off 🙁

Don’t Look Now…Please

By Middle Sis

One of the positive things about all the transferring we did over the course of my husband’s career was that I occasionally had interesting opportunities come my way. One such opportunity was the chance to teach at a community college to fill in for an instructor who was on sabbatical.

Teaching was not my chosen vocation but something I always wanted to try and so I jumped at the chance. Once in the classroom I was surprised at how comfortable I felt and overall it was a most enjoyable and enriching experience.

Right about now you may be asking what is the embarrassing moment here? Well, it actually occurred after my teaching stint was done and I was asked by the graduating class to deliver a keynote address at their graduation ceremony. I was surprised and very honoured to be asked to do this and wanted to make sure it was meaningful for the graduates. I wanted it to be perfect!

After much preparation my speech was ready, and with our dad’s missive “the clothes make the man” ringing in my ears, I decided a new outfit was in order. After more than a few hours of searching, I found an outfit that I thought projected that “in charge but still relatable” vibe.

Finally the big day arrived and I was ready! But wait, at the last minute I realized that I didn’t have a pair of shoes that would complement my outfit. Not having a lot of options at this late time, I managed to find some shoes at a discount store that, despite being a bit too small, I thought would serve the purpose for the few hours I would wear them. Crisis averted! I was dressed for success, or so I thought…

As the ceremony commenced I sat nervously at the front of the room waiting for my turn at the podium. When it was time for me to deliver my speech I took a deep breath, stood up and started walking to the podium. Two steps in the heel broke off my shoe and I fell sprawling to the floor. And I do mean sprawling… My notes went flying and shocked silence descended in the room. There I was on the floor wondering if audience members may have seen some of my body parts they were never meant to see. The MC rushed over to help me up and I scurried around picking up my notes, madly trying to figure out how I was going to gracefully recover from this debacle.

I wish I could tell you that I came up with a witty line to break the tension in the room, but my mind was a complete blank. Thank heavens I had reviewed my speech so many times that I was able to deliver it despite being completely rattled. I don’t really remember much about it, but I was told by some audience members that my speech was well received. And I am happy to report after a few glasses of wine the graduating students helped me recover from my embarrassment and see the humor of the situation.

Twenty years later, I still feel a flush of embarrassment when I think about what happened, but with perspective, can see that I learned an important lesson that day – I am stronger than I realized and in the big scheme of things events that seem monumental at the time are really unimportant. Oh yes, I also learned not to wear too small, questionable quality shoes to an important event….

And Another Door Closes

By Little Sis

My childhood was for the most part idyllically happy but when I was twelve, Dad got a job transfer and because I was still living at home, like most 12 year olds 🙂 and not even close to financial independence, I had to follow my parents in a major move. I was not a happy camper. The trauma was unspeakable.

In an effort to appease me, Dad showed me pictures of the new town house and it was really nice. There was a park near by and there was hiking trail behind the house. What was the best part you might be asking yourself? Well the complex had a pool, yes a real pool that was indoors. Awesome! Dad knew what he was doing because I loved to swim.

As soon as we were settled in our new home, I made my “swimming plan.” I woke early one morning, and was disappointed to see that it was raining, but nothing was going to stop me now. I got my towel, my swim suit, and the all important key to swimming nirvana and trotted off to the pool. When I got there, no one else was to be seen. I could not believe I had the place to myself. It was heaven and I spent almost the entire day there. But eventually I had to go home, because I was hungry, tired and somewhat prune-like.

I have always been a curious person and as I headed off to the change room, I spied an unmarked door. It was too much to resist, so I opened it and stepped outside. The door closed behind me. My heart dropped to my stomach when I realized I had locked myself out! (Hmmmm, given Big Sis’ unfortunate experience, is it possible there is a genetic component to a locking yourself out syndrome?)

I started to panic, and then I realized that I could get back to our house by running along the hiking trail. My plan was genius, except all the town houses looked out on the trail, and they all had huge back windows, a back yard, and a patio. Undaunted, I mustered up my courage and ran along the trail, exposed for all the world to see, in my bathing suit and bare feet, praying that nobody saw me. I could hear voices and some laughter as I sprinted for home, so I am sure some residents did see me. Luckily they didn’t yet know who I was or where I lived.

In spite of the fact that a few friendly dogs decided to follow me, barking all the while, I made it back to the house in one very wet, cold piece. So there I stood at our front door, shivering in my bathing suit, hair plastered to my head, water streaming down my face, desperate for my parents to let me in.

When Mom answered, her first reaction was absolute shock but I had no time to explain. I sheepishly grabbed the extra key and ran back to the pool, taking a different route this time, to spare the neighbors a second glance at my frantic bare foot, bathing suit clad figure. I headed straight for the pool building, made my way past the stares of a now crowded change room, quickly dressed and “got out of Dodge.”

As traumatic as the incident was, I think I recovered sooner than my parents, because up until the day I moved out they would always ask where I was going and particularly if it was raining, was I wearing my bathing suit? It was their idea of a joke. 🙂

Thankfully, to the best of our knowledge, there exists no definitive photographic evidence of any of the above incidents. Heaven knows if there was, we could have been blackmailed several times over. Fortunately, these stories only live on in our hearts, never to be forgotten and offering a chuckle now and then.

We plan to publish a new post every Monday so stay tuned for our next one entitled “When Your Focus Is Out Of Focus.”