These are strange days, are they not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few days ago, I went to have my haircut. As with everywhere else that we go, the hairdressers is now COVID-safe. I am sitting in front of the mirror with my mask on, the hairdresser also has a mask and a visor on. We talk, small talk mostly which, incidentally, I am a bit rubbish at. But, even with my blokey insensitivities I know how important it is for me to engage in this conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We talked about life, we talked about kids, we even talked about holidays though neither of us had been on one this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, I started to tell her about my weekend and particularly about my visit to Caff\u00e8 Nero with my family. It was the first time that we had taken our son K to a coffee shop since before March 23rd<\/sup>. My son has additional needs, and it can be hard, especially if he does not fully understand the dangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, it was my wife who struggled the most. You see, Jo had been getting over a cold and as is always the case, when my wife is getting over a cold, she had a bit of a hacking cough. Now, when we went into the coffee shop, we both believed the cough was over, but some fragrance or something like that triggered a reaction and the more she tried not to cough the more she felt the need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Social conventions are funny things, especially as they seem to emerge and become established very quickly within a pandemic. I am not sure that anyone could have felt more awkward in the shop than we did in that moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slightly embellishing the story for the sake of humour, I said the following comment to the hairdresser:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI lent over toward my wife and said \u2018\u2026for goodness sake love, just fart really loudly, you will offend a lot less people!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My comment was in reference to something I had heard a few days earlier:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018We always used to cough to hide a fart, now we fart to hide a cough\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hairdresser\u2019s reactions were astounding to me. She put her one hand on her chest and burst out laughing. I mean, it was a belly aching laugh. She crossed her legs and bent downward, continuing to laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I have a long career in farting jokes, and none of them have ever got that reaction, but something had been building up in this hairdresser and she needed to release it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I do know a bit about her 2020 story, and it has been very tough for her and her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, for her this was cathartic. For me, well I am now happily retired from all farting jokes as I will never better that one moment in my hairdressers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But here is the thing, after that she asked me what I did for a living. I was able to share with her about Jesus, CVM and how, though I am a Christian, I totally understood how she had been feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suddenly, \u2018we are all in this together\u2019 felt bit more poignant, a bit truer and who knows whether we will now both get to share God\u2019s Kingdom in this life and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it all started from a childish farting joke! What might get a similar conversation started for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Image Credit: Markus Winkler<\/a><\/p>\n