Some Cozy Night

[id-ee-uh t  reel]

Noun

A mental catalog of acts where our benign but profound stupidity is on full display. Often recalled when in the middle of a new installment for the reel.

Highlights from my Idiot Reel include feeding my dog, M, blueberry pie in bed, crossing the threshold of Astor Place to get a post-breakup haircut in 1990 and the evening when I triumphantly yelled “BEE GEE!!” to Mr. H. while trying to recall the last name of Maurice, Robin and Barry*.

Naturally, my reel contains every single time I thought to myself “How hard could it be?”, occasions when I confidently began to discuss subjects of which I know nothing about, and several bouts with my garbage disposal. If it were professionally edited, I can only assume that in between each of these episodes there would be a new shot of me looking for my keys.

I am pretty certain that we all have an IR. And if they could actually be recorded, would I be the only one who would hit “play” frequently? I don’t think so.

Aside from providing a much-needed belly laugh from time to time, The Idiot Reel keeps me from taking life too seriously. It’s also a gentle reminder that I can recover from my own mistakes. And while recovery from the 1990 “Astor Disaster” did take a while, as the stakes in life only seem to get higher and higher, that is a nice thing to know.

xx

Ms. Keyless

*Yes, I just looked up their first names on Wikipedia. And I am now wondering if the naming of these three sons are on Mrs. Gibb’s reel. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were family names.

(Photo: Some Cozy Night)