Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. Today is Wednesday, and it’s time for another post in the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge hosted by Long and Short Reviews. If you would like to participate in the challenge, you can find the list of topics for 2024 here. If you’d like to read other people’s responses to this week’s topic, you can do so here.

Funniest Advice I’ve Received

I don’t think anyone has ever given me ‘funny’ advice. Some of the best advice I received was from my dad when I was about five years old, so I’ll talk about that.

I used to be frightened of the dark, as many children are, and my dad sat on the end of my bed one night and explained to me that ‘there is nothing in the dark that is not there in the daylight.’ That sentiment is rational and a plain old fact, but to a five-year-old, it’s still rather unhelpful because everyone knows monsters only come out of the walls when it’s dark. I used to argue this fact back and forth with my dad, rationalising every hypothetical scenario my brain would come up with.

‘What if there are ghosts?’
‘Ghosts aren’t real.’
‘What if there are monsters?’
‘There are no such things as monsters.’
‘What if a burglar has been hiding in the cupboard waiting for it to get dark?’
‘I always check the cupboards.’
‘What if an alien beams down from a spaceship?’
‘Well, in that unlikely event, be very kind and polite and ask him if he wants a snack or needs to use the bathroom. Aliens are much more likely to be friendly to you if you are friendly to them.’

Over the years, he’d often remind me of this advice; when my nephews and nieces were born, he gave it to them, too. It wasn’t until I was an adult, trying to assuage the fears of my nephew (he thought I lived in a haunted flat – I didn’t), that I understood that my dad would have told me anything to make me feel safe and secure in my bedroom (though I do still think of that advice whenever I hear a bump in the night.)

My dad was one of those people who was said to have had a large funnybone, though I think all his bones must’ve been funny. I used to worry about dying a lot when I was little, and he would always say, ‘Dying is a natural part of life, and we all have to do it. When your time’s up, it’s up. But dying can’t be all that bad because if it were, there’d be queues of people complaining about it up and down the length and breadth of Britain.’

This is a man, by the way, who, when I tearfully asked him how long his doctors expected him to live after he received his terminal lung cancer diagnosis, said, ‘They said I have a bit of time, so don’t worry. Although, they did warn me against buying any double CDs.’

God, I miss him.

And that’s me done for today!

As ever, thanks for stopping by to read post number 32!

Until next time,

George

© 2024 GLT

Categories: life, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

Tags: advice, blog, blogging, challenge, fears, funny, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge