Happy April Fools to those who dearly love to laugh

Like Jane Austen, I dearly love to laugh.

So, April Fools might seem like my kind of holiday. In some ways it is.

But, again like Jane, “I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good.”

I love a good pratfall. I don’t love a mean prank.

I’ve watched a particular video, in which a dad, who is a little too eager to meet his son’s new friend, trips over his own two feet and belly rolls down the front yard. It’s pretty funny. But, for me, it gets even better when his mortified wife strides over to him and says “What. Happened?!”

Listen, I’ve been both that man and that wife.

The new friend’s mom calls out from her car, “That was a nice tuck and roll, though.”

It was! A lesser man might have lain there, sprawled out on the front yard, waiting for the car to drive away before slinking back into the house. This man popped right up.

I’d have done the same. I once tripped in front of a whole line of cars waiting for a passing train. I jumped up immediately and scurried away before anyone could approach me with the offensive “My God, that looked painful! Are you ok?” In fact, I was so focused on hightailing out of there, I didn’t notice the blood gushing from my skinned knee and forearm until I was a good two miles away.

There’s a patch of skin on my arm where my traumatized freckles never grew back. Traitors. Still, I crack up every time I think about that scene. I love a good pratfall, even when it’s my own.

“Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.”

Toward the end of that video, the man’s little son asks him, in a very sweet tone, if he’s okay. So, I think the real takeaway from this hilarious video is that the couple has raised their son right and also that the little boy has chosen some very nice friends.

Though I’m guessing that gentleman woke up a little sore the next day, I consider his pratfall, with its sweet son, kind neighbor, relatable wife and eager dad, a feel-good story, my favorite kind.

I hope you all enjoy an April Fool’s Day full of belly laughs.

To start you off on the right foot, here’s that video.

I’m sharing it here because it started out as Ring Camera footage, and I have to assume the family shared it themselves.