A giggle from the past

Funny stories don't usually come via the Obituaries, but that is just what happened to me today. I used to question why people picked up the newspaper and went straight to the obits. Now that I am of a certain age, I understand. Daily I read the email obituaries from the local newspaper, or what is left of it. 

 Often, perusing the names of the deceased and their kin will jog your memory of someone or some event that you haven't thought of in ages.  Today, there was the photograph and long obituary of a lady from the church in which I grew up. Her late husband is the one who I am sharing this story about; it is 100% true. 

 This church was the largest, most affluent Baptist church in town. It was what you would call "high church," although absent some of the liturgy used in Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches.

 You had to walk up a very large set of steps as though you were entering a Roman temple. (In later years, an elevator was installed for the elderly.) By the time you reached the top, you were out of breath. But, save your breath to blow your pudding because once inside, there was no chitty chatting. The bulletin clearly instructed you to be reverent and meditative in the time prior to the service.

 So, as a child and later a teen raised in this setting, you knew that you dare not make a peep. If a friend sat with me and we whispered, I would feel my mother's fingernail poke me in the thigh, never sudden enough to elicit an "ouch" or other disturbance. I really only had one problem behaving in this hushed and reverent environment...the Sanctuary Choir. 

 My piano teacher was the Organist\choir director. Her choir was filled with very well-trained voices, even music educators, etc...

The problem was the bass section. There were these two middle-aged men who were a fixture in the bass section for basically my whole life. When they sang bass, to my childish eyes, they looked so very much like big huge frogs! With their mouths open so wide, they made the perfect facsimile of a big fairytale toad!

 If you know me at all, you already know how this story goes. I had trouble not cracking up in laughter... every single Sunday. It never ceased to turn over my tickle box, so I learned just not to look...Avoiding "the finger."But, doesn't it always seems that forbidden laughter is the funniest.

 So, fastforward to when I was about 20 years old. I was contemplating dropping out of college if I could find a decent position without a degree. I managed to get an interview at a very well-respected bank in town . And to make it even more important, I was going to be interviewing with the president of the bank! But that's not the best part. My mother informed me that the bank president was from our church. She knew he and his wife, and reported that they were fine people. Of course, I knew who the man was, and, you guessed it.  He was one of the frogs in the Sanctuary Choir! 

 So, as the interview day approached, I hoped against hope that I could make it thru the interview without losing it.

 I was treated quite well from the moment I arrived.  He knew who I was, and the conversation was politely familiar. The interview didn't take long.  I was already congratulating myself for rising above my childish sense of humor, when he stood up to end the interview. 

 His necktie was stuck in his desk drawer, and he almost choked!!!!! And, I didn't get the job.