April Fools

April Fools Day is known for practical jokes and other humorous stunts. For me I always think of my grandfather, Bubba. He loved April Fools Day and he loved to pull pranks and jokes on others, especially on my Mother. He would get her every year. Even the years she would remind herself of what day it was, he would still trick her. His favorite prank was to call her and tell her that our dog George was down at his house, which would be possible the years we lived on the same block. The year after we moved he called her and told her George had managed to return back to the old neighborhood, which was a 10 minute drive. She grabbed her keys and headed for the car to go after George. I ran outside to stop her and tell her that Bubba had just pulled another April Fools joke on her. She and I have continued the tradition of pulling pranks on each other after Bubba passed away in 1984. It was our way of honoring him. Here are two of our most memorable pranks:

1) I had my own phone line when I got in junior high school. One April Fools Day my Mom calls me from work and tells me that she was sorry but we couldn't afford my phone line anymore and I needed to unplug all my phones and put them on the porch for the phone company to come pick up. Being the dutiful daughter I was, I didn't think twice and did exactly what she told me to do. I called her back to tell her that I took care of it and she laughed and simply said "April Fool." Trust me I felt like a fool!

2) One year I had been dating this guy that was quite a bit older than me and my Mother didn't like him or the way he treated me. He was simply very selfish and arrogant. I knew she wasn't thrilled with this relationship so on April Fools Day I called her up and pretended I had been crying and told her we were breaking up and I was on my way back home. I waited 5 or 10 minutes giving her time to think about it. Little did I know she had started planning a celebratory dinner and had told all the girls at work the good news. Imaging her disappointment when I called to say those infamous words, "April Fool."