Humor Information

I Got to Play an April Fools Joke Before I was Born





I will start this by saying that yes, I did miss being an April Fool, but only by a tiny margin. I was born just twenty minutes after midnight on April 2nd, and the events of the prior day in my home were quite interesting to say the least.

To get the full story I must go back and remind everyone what medical tests were like in the 1970's, they were improving, but still far from the reliability, and accuracy that we take for granted today.

There were already four children in the house, the oldest a boy, who was seventeen, and the youngest a girl age nine. Two of them from my father's first marriage, and two from one of my mother's previous marriages. I would be the second try for them to have a child in common. The first resulted in a miscarriage when my mother was just three months along.

Since she'd already lost one child, the doctors were watching my mother closely to try to prevent this from happening again, thus they ran every test they had available at the time. My parents were told nothing but good news, there was no reason this baby wouldn't carry to term. To top if off, they said it was a boy and the due date was April 8th. Both of my parents were jubilant and all four kids were excited about gaining a new little brother. They quickly chose to name me after my grandfather, George.

Now, we fast forward to April 1st, as my mother's due date is nearing. My parents were planning to attend a function at a local club where my father was a member. Before leaving, they decided they had the perfect opportunity to play an April Fool's joke on the kids, they would pretend my mother was in labor and they were really leaving to go to the hospital.

The kids had heard them talking about the evening out in previous days so they weren't falling for it, they told them that they knew perfectly well it was April Fool's day and the baby wasn't even due yet. Trying to keep up the game, my mother still pretended to be having contractions, and they got in the car, and left the house.

Then suddenly a big surprise did hit! My mother's water broke in the car on the way to town and my dad had to turn tail and race for the hospital. After getting my mother checked into the maternity ward, he tried calling the kids to let them know what had really happened. At this point, their brilliant April Fool's trick totally backfired. The kids still refused to believe him, they told him to go back to dinner and stop trying to fool them.

My mother labored through the night and finally, I entered the world at twenty minutes past midnight on April 2nd. Here came another surprise, their chosen name of George wasn't going to work, I was a girl. They hadn't even pondered a girl's name since they were so sure the baby was going to be a boy, but that is a tale for another time.

Once again, my father tried to call home and let the kids know about their new baby sister, but they still refused to believe him. They told him it was almost one in the morning, so April Fool's day was over, and on top of that, they knew the baby was going to be a boy, not a girl. They all said goodnight to him, hung up the phone and went back to bed.

Realizing how badly their attempted joke had backfired, my father had to drive home, roust them all out of bed, grumbling and tired at two in the morning. Then he drove them all to the hospital so he could prove to them that it wasn't still an April Fool's joke.

Needless to say, the story of my birth and this April Fool's trick was told many times in my family as I was growing up, and to this day my Dad says it was the best April Fool's joke he ever thought up.

Verleen Wonderly is a published, freelance writer and has worked for the website http://www.dealofday.com since it's inception in 1999.


MORE RESOURCES:

Kansas City Star

'House' ends eight seasons of humor and pain
Kansas City Star
After redefining the TV protagonist, Hugh Laurie says he has no regrets after limping through eight seasons as the acerbic, drug-addicted genius. By FRAZIER MOORE The Associated Press In the series finale, titled “Everybody Dies” (a nod to House's ...

and more »


Philippine Star

Ellen DeGeneres named Mark Twain Prize recipient
Washington Post
Ellen DeGeneres, the award-winning comedian and talk show host, has been selected by the Kennedy Center to receive this year's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Ellen, as she is known to the millions who watch her syndicated talk show, ...
Ellen DeGeneres wins top US humor prize in DCBoston.com
Hicks: Ellen DeGeneres wins Mark Twain awardSan Jose Mercury News
Ellen DeGeneres gains top US award for humorReuters
Detroit Free Press -Philippine Star
all 416 news articles »


Telegraph.co.uk

Hodgepodge of humor can't save 'The Dictator'
Bowling Green Daily News
But the gags are all over the map after that, a hodgepodge of humor that can't decide whether it wants to be mean-spirited satire or play it safe for a mass audience. The result is Cohen's weakest film to date. Cohen plays Aladeen, the vicious ruler of ...
Review: 'The Dictator' sometimes goes too far with humorSioux City Journal (blog)
Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Dictator' Kills With Black Humor: ReviewSan Francisco Chronicle
Gross-out humor undermines 'Dictator's' pointed satireWisconsin State Journal
The Oshkosh Northwestern
all 1,464 news articles »


Politico

Christie uses humor video to connect, but could Romney follow suit?
msnbc.com (blog)
Humor has always been a part of the modern political campaign -- think Richard Nixon's appearance during his run for president on the television show "Laugh-In." But humor's role has been augmented in the age of social media and viral videos; ...
Christie: No More VP QuestionsABC News (blog)

all 330 news articles »


Humor & Satire: Mr. Bouchard's Guide to Graduating
The Miscellany News
By Jean-Luc Bouchard As a rising junior and non-empathic sociopath, it's difficult for me to place myself in a senior's soon-to-be-graduating shoes. But according to the roughly eight thousand Facebook and SayAnything posts I've read, graduation is ...



Baltimore Sun

With '1600 Penn,' Jason Winer goes from 'Modern Family' to political humor
Baltimore Sun
Talk about instant success. Baltimore native Jason Winer doesn't even have a name yet for his Hollywood production company. But he and his two co-creators, "The Book of Mormon" Broadway star Josh Gad and former White House speechwriter Jon Lovett, ...

and more »


Video showcases Christie's sense of humor
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Matt Katz play their roles in the video that played off recent events involving them. The two are seen as possible foes in the race for governor next year. The black SUV that transported Gov. Christie got a flat tire as he was on his way to catching ...

and more »


New York Daily News

Rock and Banks give humor and heart to 'Expecting'
STLtoday.com
Elizabeth Banks (left) and Brooklyn Decker in "What to Expect When You're Expecting." Lionsgate photo "What to Expect When You're Expecting" is a "Valentine's Day" take on impending parenthood. Assorted couples cope with pregnancies, adoption and the ...
Season of the Self-Help MovieNBC Chicago
Boredom Awaits During 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'HollywoodChicago.com
Movie review: 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' is as expectedHerkimer Evening Telegram
Daily Herald -ChristianityToday.com -Columbus Dispatch
all 214 news articles »


Daniel Okrent, Peter Gethers yuk it up with their off-Broadway show 'Old Jews ...
Washington Post
“Without being pretentious, without turning it into anything major, we wanted it to be a show that was not just jokes but a show that was partly about jokes and about humor.” It's inspired by the website OldJewsTellingJokes.com and Okrent and Gethers ...

and more »


TheChronicleHerald.ca

Depp, Burton Find Humor In Dark Shadows
Patch.com
Depp plays this innately over-the-top role with perfect deadpan humor — "The Collins Family has always held the greatest balls." That should have cued up the AC/DC soundtrack. Burton didn't miss a trick when he mined the original supernatural soap ...
Dark Shadows favors camp over storyDaily Trojan Online
Take 2 Review: 'Dark Shadows' lacks the bite of old soap opera (VIDEO)Delco News Network
Dark Shadows Review411mania.com
Cebu Daily News -Roseville Press Tribune -Jakarta Globe
all 90 news articles »

Google News

Home | Site Map | Dhammapada Website | Virtual-DALnet | VitHost | K-Ayurveda | VitHost Health Store
© 2005