Oprah has "Aha!" Moments. She seems to revel in them. She's even invited other celebrities to share their "Aha!" Moments in her magazine. They're pretty interesting. If you'd like you can read about some of them here.
For those of you who are not a disciple of Oprah's, an "Aha!" moment is when you realize a truth about yourself or about life. I have had these moments and they are wondrous and awe inspiring. They make me feel good.
However, every moment in life can't be an "Aha!" one. There are other moments that fill the gaps in between. I don't have names for all of them, but sometimes I find myself having what I like to call an "Are you serious?!?" moment.
Sometimes, people just take your breath away - with their insanity. They say and do things that make you wonder if they need to get off of drugs or if they need start taking them. For them it makes perfect sense, but it makes you wonder what alternative universe they came from. We've all had these moments. Unfortunately, most times they happen more often than we'd like.
If you find yourself in any of these situations, you might want to take a break from it and say to yourself (or the person in front of you) "Are you serious?!?".
A relative, who is often down on their luck, is invited to a family dinner at a restaurant for another relative's birthday. It's understood that this individual cannot pay for their meal - times are hard and other family members have agreed to cover this person's share. You get to the restaurant and this lovely person proceeds to order an appetizer, a cocktail, entree and a dessert (!). Since you are one of the folks responsible for their share, you ask them if they actually brought money to pay their portion of the bill, since clearly they've decided to go throw caution to the wind for this dinner. When they say no, you glare at them, since paying for this urchins appetizer, alcohol and cheesecake was clearly not the idea when the invitation was extended. They are unappreciative of the stare and state quite plainly, "You knew I didn't have any money when you invited me." Are you serious?!?
You get a call from a friend who has had some money issues. He was evicted from his apartment and had taken to sleeping in his car up until a few weeks ago, when he found refuge with on a friend's couch. He wants to know if you, a U.S. citizen, know anything about getting a work visa. He's a U.S. citizen as well, so you want to know why he needs this information. Turns out he's trying to bring a girl over from another country (don't ask, I don't know which one). He met her on the Internet, and she'll need a work visa to come here and stay long term - not that he has a place for her to stay (or maybe she'll join him on that couch). Are you serious?!?
Then there's your friend,Teddy. Teddy's brother, Lance is in jail. I don't know what Lance did, but he'll be gone for at least a year. Teddy doesn't have a job right now. He found Jesus and stopped working in the adult entertainment industry, but his cash flow has dried up. Teddy's asking for ideas about how to make $10,000 before his brother gets out. Turns out, Teddy has a heart of gold. He want to make this money to give his brother a jump start when he gets out of jail! Of course, I understand, you're jobless and barely have a roof over your head, but Lance, who currently get three meals a day and guaranteed housing, you're worried about. Are you serious?!?
You have a roommate. She's responsible for paying the electric bill. Her payment history has been sketchy at best and you come home one day to find out your lights were cut off for non-payment. You scrounge up the $400 it takes to get the lights turned back on (let's not forget that there is still an additional $350 balance because surrrrprise! your roommate hasn't been paying the full balance for months.) Obviously, roomie owes you the money you just laid out...thankfully she agrees. Next month, on the day you know she gets paid, you approach her for your money. She lets you know that she can't give you the money for the electric bill, she has to pay her cell phone bill. Oh, I see...so we won't have lights, but no worries because you'll be able to talk on the phone. Are you serious?!?
Please be assured, these are real stories. About actual people. I have changed some of the identifying characteristics to protect the guilty, but the details are the same.
I'm not the only one with these stories. There's at least one in every family or circle of friends. If you have any lovely stories that you'd like to share, please do! If you've given another name for these types of siutations, I'd love to hear about that too!
