Tag: finding fun in life

A Thousand Weddings & Other Polite Curses.



The art of wishing someone “well”


My grandmother-in-law, may she rest in peace, used to wish people she didn’t like that she hoped they would go to a thousand weddings.
On its face, it sounds like a wonderful blessing. Attending many joyful celebrations sounds delightful. Only later did I understand what she really meant: wedding gifts.
In my culture, we give cash—generous amounts of cash—for weddings and other celebrations. Going to many weddings can be a serious financial burden, and when we were a young couple, it certainly wasn’t easy.
My father likes to “bless” people with a Yiddish phrase that translates to: may you be like an onion—your head in the ground and your legs in the air. It’s especially funny once you picture it.
All these “wishful thoughts” are passive-aggressive at best, but truly hilarious when you think about them. Generations before mine used humor, creativity, and even politeness when they wanted to curse someone.
It was an art form—one I deeply appreciate.
What are the funny phrases your family used?

Adding some fun

I didn’t watch the world cup games, the sports gene skipped me completely. If you asked me about my favorite sport I would reply with: drinking coffee, sadly there is no coffee drinking event  in the olympics.The only sport I might watch is Curling. The broom sweeping has always been fascinating to me and I often wonder if using a roomba will  have the same effect on that sliding stone as the sweeping of the broom. This really intrigues  me, do these curling athletes practice at home by sweeping and mopping their floors? I know I am boring and a little weird.

We established that sports are not  my thing. I don’t have a favorite sports team or a favorite event and I don’t think I ever stopped on one of the many sports channels on my TV. 

For some reason I caught the Senegalese soccer team warming up before their soccer team and they were dancing, yes dancing. This looked like so much fun and I actually paid attention to the team, not to the soccer game. I am sure the team was nervous before the game as I understand the world cup is a big thing. They were having so much fun and had such big expressions of joy on their faces and I realized, dancing probably calmed their nerves. 

There is more than one way to get ready for a major event, either sports, a final exam, a meeting or an important presentation – we don’t always have to be 100% serious. We can practice and prepare and then just dance to our hearts delight. I am not suggesting  dancing in the office in front of everyone unless you really want to, but having a little fun does help with all the seriousness our life has and maybe we can burn a calorie or two as well in the process.