I’ll never forget the night that our neighborhood became an impromptu concert venue. It started innocently enough – or so I thought. I love sleeping with the window open, even in the dead of winter, and that particular night was no exception. The cold air was refreshing, and I was snuggled up cozy under my heated blanket. That is, until I started hearing a woman’s voice in my dream. At first, I thought it was just part of the dream, but as the voice persisted, I realized it was real – and it was coming from outside our window.
Every 10-15 seconds, a loud, stadium-announcer voice would scream, “BATTERY LOW PLEASE CHARGE” at the top of its lungs. It was 2:30 AM, and I was not amused. My husband, equally perplexed, threw on his shoes and went on a mission to find the source of the noise. He returned a few minutes later with good news and bad news. The good news? It wasn’t coming from our house. The bad news? It was coming from the house across the street, and we had no way of turning it off.
For 30 minutes, we endured the robotic voice, our frustration growing with each passing minute. That’s when things took a turn for the absurd. Suddenly, the device blasted, “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE MAMBO NUMBER 5!” followed by the unmistakable beat and lyrics. I’m talking Madison Square Garden-level loud. My husband and I looked at each other, and I burst out laughing. “A little bit of Monica in my life,” I chuckled, quoting the infamous song.
After the song ended, the device went into horror-movie mode, screaming non-stop like a haunted house soundtrack. It was surreal, to say the least. Luckily, the police arrived and put an end to the cacophony. It turned out the noise was coming from a mini pocket bike-type motorcycle that had been keeping the neighborhood awake.
In moments like these, my husband and I often sing: “This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!” It’s become a little tradition of ours – whenever life gets absurd or frustrating, we choose to laugh and sing our way through it. It’s a reminder that every minute, no matter how crazy, is a gift from God.
As I looked out the window, watching the police officers deal with the situation, I couldn’t help but feel happiness in that moment – absurd as it was. We chose to find joy in it, to laugh, and to sing. And in doing so, we found a sense of peace in the midnight chaos.
Life is unpredictable, and sometimes it’s downright ridiculous. But in the midst of it all, we can choose to rejoice. Even when the noise is deafening, and the situation is absurd, we can still find joy. And that’s exactly what we did – we sang, we laughed, and we rejoiced in the gift of another moment, no matter how crazy it was.
Leave a Reply