My favorite part of April Fools' Day is that it is the anniversary of two of my favorite people. Other than that, it's not something I usually celebrate. Practical jokes and pranks have to be really good to impress me; adolescent humor has always struck me as stupid, cruel, and pointless—never funny.
Having learned the hard way about my attitude toward that kind of humor, my husband rarely attempts to pull an April Fools' joke on me. But today he did, and even I thought it was funny.
There we were, sitting in our respective offices, calling out to each other various items of interest.
"Oh, no," he cried. "Because of the USAirways/American Airlines merger, they've changed your flight from Philadelphia - Zurich to Miami - Heathrow - Zurich."
As I was spluttering, "Oh, no! How can they do that? That's terrible," he walked through my door, smiled, and said, "April Fool!"
As April Fool pranks go, it's not on the level of the 1957 BBC report below. But it was perfect for me:
- It was plausible: Many changes have been happening due to the USAirways/American merger, and since he had made the reservation, it was logical that a change notification would have come to him. We haven't yet had an international reservation without some change being made by the airline before the flight date.
And the last time we flew American Airlines, we went through Heathrow. - It was guaranteed to generate a response of dismay from me: I had been greatly looking forward to a flight to Switzerland with only one intermediate stop. Plus, Miami and Heathrow are two of my least favorite airports.
- It wasn't anything really bad: Annoying, but not scary.
- He didn't drag it out: Relief came quickly.
It was great for both of us to start the day with a good laugh. That's enough though. I'm a little worried about choir rehearsal tonight....
Here's the promised BBC story:
