The bathroom in our basement is a tricky one. Matt has tried fixing it multiple times. In fact, he's spent hours upon hours trying to fix it. The weird thing is that there really isn't anything wrong with it. It works. It flushes. But, it only flushes liquid. No paper. No solids. Because of this, I had to post a sign on the door stating that the basement bathroom was a urinal only. But, instead of writing urinal, I wrote laniru. This is why:
We were at my grandparent's house in Florida on vacation. We were all sitting around the pink table, eating ice cream. And we were playing this game where one person would say a word, but say it backwards, and everyone else would try and guess what it was. Only one word stumped us all. Laniru. Pronounced, Lan-e-ru. No one could figure it out. It was my Papa that said it, and when he finally told us what the word was, we all laughed so hard. Laniru has remained in our vocabulary ever since.
Writing, "Laniru," on that note for the bathroom door made me think about Papa. My favorite Papa memory is this: It must have been summer. Because there was a watermelon involved. We were all at my Aunt Trisha's house. My whole extended family on my Dad's side. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. It was after dinner, and there was music playing. And somehow, everyone kind of spontaneously broke out into dance. We all just sort of started dancing. And as time went on, and we kept dancing, things got more and more elaborate. We did the limbo. And we took turns dancing down the center of two lines of people dancing and clapping. Then, it got more elaborate. We started taking laps around the house. Someone would disappear into the dining room, and come out into the hallway, and then dance through the two lines of people. People started to bring things with them from the kitchen, or the living room. The person I remember most vividly was Papa. He came out with a dish towel on his head, and he was holding a watermelon. I remember his dancing face. It was serious, but silly at the same time. And when he came out holding the watermelon, everyone broke out into hysterical laughter.
Thankful for grandparents, and uncles, and aunts, and cousins. Thankful for the word, Laniru. It always makes me laugh. Thankful for spontaneous dance parties. I think they should happen way more often. Thankful that something as commonplace as a watermelon, when used in just the right way, can induce deep gut busting laughter. Which is the most memorable of all the types of laughter. Thankful for good memories with family.
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