April Fool's Day: A Tribute to My Dad

As I'm typing away, I am practically giddy about tomorrow morning.  April Fool's Day will always have a special spot in my heart because it seems to be my dad's favourite day of the year.

Right now I have a bowl of Cheerios and milk sitting in the freezer with a big ol' spoon sticking out of it.  I can barely wait for the morning to get here so we can serve Kaycie her "breakfast"!  Even Ken seems to be convinced this is going to be the best gag ever.  I wish there was a way we could play a trick on Knolan, but I don't think 9 month olds really understand prankster antics.  Maybe I'll put a chair on my head and see what he does.  :-)

The anticipation is making me nostalgic.  When we were growing up, Dad had a bit of a reputation as an incurable prankster.  I remember Dad telling us stories about the tricks he used to pull on people back in the day.  I seem to recall tales of chivarees, where he was guilty of filling newlyweds' toilet bowls with Jell-O and putting tonnes of confetti in honeymooners' suitcases. 

A few of the pranks over the years of which we were victims - April Fool's Day and otherwise - stand out for me.

For example, there was the time he actually shovelled snow and pine branches into our upstairs hallway and then woke us up with his mock panic accompanied by reports that the giant evergreen outside of our upstairs bathroom had crashed INTO the bathroom through the window.

There was another time he called me on April Fool's Day while I was away at school to let me know that our accountant had finished my taxes and that my income tax return was $5000.  Can you imagine the thrill of hearing those words when you are a student!? 

Oh, he thought he was pretty funny, alright!  To be truthful, we all loved it.  And the key to his success (with me anyway!) was that he always called us early enough to catch us when we were asleep so that we wouldn't clue in to what day it was.

I think my favourite April Fool's prank of Dad's has to be the time he actually put together and couriered a fake package to me at my workplace saying that I had won some contest (I think - I saved it... I should try and find it sometime!) and that I should call the number enclosed in the package.  He had gone to great trouble to put graphic design elements all over it and it was all on fake letterhead.

I was determined to not let Dad have the last laugh, so instead of calling the number, I called my friend, and good sport, Dave.  I convinced Dave to help me get back at Dad and call him at his office pretending to be an investigator with the "Bureau of Mail Fraud", and I arranged with Dad's staff to make sure Dave was put through to voicemail so that he wouldn't actually have to talk to Dad... just make him laugh a bit!  Dave played the part beautifully, making up elaborate extra details I hadn't even thought of!  He called himself Roger LeRoche, and inferred on his voicemail that Dad could be looking at some serious legal issues for fraudulent use of a courier service.

Well, I didn't think Dad would fall for it, but apparently we gave him a bit of a scare!  I felt a slight twinge of guilt, but it was pretty satisfying (and fun!) to prank the ultimate prankster... and we had a good laugh about it.  Dave deserves most of the credit.  I can't believe he went along with it!

So Dad... I'll be thinking of you tomorrow morning, as I take up the April Fool's Day torch and expose a new generation to antics inspired by you!  Now that I think on it, perhaps you should watch your back.  I have a feeling that when tomorrow rolls around and Kaycie figures out what April Fool's Day is all about, she'll be looking for a victim... and who better to target than the master himself!  Hee hee!