242. April Fool’s

It’s April Fool’s Day, and Nora shares her most…memorable April Fool’s joke. And by memorable we mean the joke where she freaked her parents out by saying she was getting married at age 20. 

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

This episode is not an April Fool’s joke.

But it is the story of my very worst April Fool’s joke.

The year was either 2002 or 2003. I was in college, living in Cincinnati in the dorms with three of my friends. 

I had a boyfriend I’d had since high school, who lived across the country in California.

We communicated through phone cards we got as gifts for Christmas, and via email, which he checked at the computer lab at his school. 

We had been on and off for several years, and would be for several more, but at this point, we were on, and we had a great April Fool’s idea.

Let’s tell our parents that we were dropping out of school and getting married. 

Funny! So funny!

But execution is everything. Delivery is everything in comedy. So we decided to…send letters to our respective parents telling them about this plan. That this would be our last year of college, we would get married over the summer and then go to the University of Minnesota and live in Married Student Housing together. Was that even a thing? It sounded like a thing!

The letters went out in mid-march, and then, on April 1, another letter arrived, letting them know it was all a BIG PRANK!

We weren’t dropping out of school! We were JOKING!

The problem was, my parents had already gone into damage control mode and called our extended family to tell them that this was happening.

And now they had to call everyone and tell them it was a joke?? And their daughter was absolutely insane and thought this was funny???

I truly did not think that my parents were justified in their reaction, which was to call me and yell at me. I thought they were dummies who didn’t get a joke. But now that it’s been 20 years and I have a KID IN COLLEGE I SEE THEIR POINT!

Not that funny!

NOT THAT FUNNY! 

But they didn’t just forgive, they also pretty much forgot it! 

By the way, the joke was also on me because I did not marry that boy! Which was also for the best. 

Anyway, happy April Fool’s Day! Don’t do anything dumb!

Xo

Nora