I believe I am a master in the art of making a fool of myself. In all my years of foolish experiences, I realize that being foolish can be a fundamental element for humility and a great source of amusement.

My first foolish experience occurred, coincidently, when I was at that magical, insecure age of 14. A good looking boy had just said his goodbyes to me and I jumped on my bicycle and started riding across the street. I glanced back to see him staring after me, admiringly, and I felt on top of the world. He was one of the hottest kids in school and he was staring at ME! I couldn’t believe my luck. Then, it happened. The high power of the universe decided to give me a good lesson in humility right then and there and my bicycle broke into two pieces in the very center of the intersection.  The busy traffic waited patiently as I picked up the two pieces, held together only by the dangling chain, and carried them the rest of the way across the street; the whole time I heard the unforgettable ringing of hysterical laughter echoing in my ears as the boy jumped on his own bicycle and rode away into the sunset.

Looking back, I see this was a warning. But, being foolish as I was, I didn’t take heed. After all, that really wasn’t MY fault. The manufacturer of the bicycle was at fault!  Right?

The next incident, however, was my fault. I admit it.  I fell in love. Yea, with another guy.   Now, falling in love is, in itself, not a foolish thing to do. But, for some reason I go all goo-goo eyed and mushy when I fall in love. I love to love. I could get addicted to love. In fact, I was addicted to love. And, I expected my guy to be addicted to love, too. I never wanted him to quit saying “I love you” ten times a day, every day for the rest of my life. I wanted him to call me the second he walked in the door of his house after saying good bye to me at my house; and any other spare second in his life. I wanted him to PROVE that he loved me with sweet little love notes and flowers everywhere, all the time. And I especially expected him to pretend that my best friend, Lisa, who was way better looking than me, wasn’t anywhere around- his only focus should always be on me.

Now, mind you, he did these things quite willingly and happily. That’s how I knew I was in love!   But, one day things got too serious. HE got too serious. It scared the beegeebees out of me. I knew it was all over then.  He would call over and over for the next several days and I ignored the phone. He never knew what hit him. Five years later he called me again and asked if I would go out with him again; he was still in love with me. But, I was already married to someone else. When my marriage ended three years later, I looked him up. His new wife answered the phone. Yea, the epitome of foolishness.

I wish I could say that was the last really foolish mistake I ever made, but I can’t say that. I’ve made many over the years. These kind of mistakes are the worst kind of foolishness. One thing about being a fool, though, I learned a lot. I always had to learn things the hard way, and sometimes I was a bit slow on the uptake, but at least I eventually learned.

Not all of my foolish acts were lessons, though. Some were just plain, well…. foolish! I like to blame this on the fact that I am blonde, so most people will understand and be sympathetic.  Now that’s not saying that I think blondes are dumb or anything; I know I’m not dumb. I just do a lot of dumb things. Like get lost even with the GPS on because I have absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever.  Or, fall flat on my face in the middle of Lowe’s when I trip over someone else’s foot. Or, forget what I called someone about until I hang up and so then I have to call them right back again. These kind of foolish experiences add a lot of humor to my life. I have learned to laugh at myself and I accept the fact that I leave myself wide open as the source of amusement for others in my life. That’s perfectly okay with me. At least I can make people smile without even trying. That is not a bad thing. In fact, that’s the very best way to make a fool of yourself.