The EYES have it!: Day 332 ~ Escape from Tradition

November 28, 2014

My Instead: My daughter-in-law Shaundra and I did a duct tape escape at our Thanksgiving celebration.

Traditions are an interesting thing. They’re created. They’re changed. They’re continued. They’re dissolved. We rearrange them, we fight over them, we ignore them, we tolerate them, we look forward to them, we hate them, we love them. For many of us, holidays are when this thing called tradition comes to the forefront.

This year my Thanksgiving tradition came the day after. I planned and prepared to have my family (minus my son and his wife from Phoenix) for a turkey dinner on “Black Friday” evening. Not just to lighten my load, I asked everyone to bring a dish, hoping to make it feel more like a joint effort. My living room became my “dining room” filled with tables, chairs and place settings. Everyone arrived around 6 o’clock, except my mother, who was there at 5:30, just as I finished getting dressed. The potatoes got mashed and prepared dishes were placed on my kitchen table and counter…a veritable smorgasbord.

After dinner, all hands were on deck for the cleanup...female hands, that is. The “kitchen patrol” banter was abundant and the laughter was equally as much. And we still got the job done! Women are amazing that way!

Now for the “non-tradition”! I had seen an astonishing stunt on Facebook where a woman demonstrated how to escape from having her wrists duct taped together. Explaining the maneuver and how I hoped they would never have to use it, I asked for volunteers. My daughter Robin had too many non-removable bracelets on her wrists to be a likely candidate. Next on my list of possible challengers was my daughter-in-law Shaundra. With reservation, she agreed. I wound the pink duct tape around her wrists about three times and gave her charade-like instructions on how to escape. Once, twice, third time was the charm. Shaundra was free! She couldn’t believe it worked...I couldn’t either.

Shaundra insisted that I do the honors as well, so as not to miss out on the fun she just had. She returned the favor by winding pink duct tape around my wrists. Once, twice…eighth…no cigar! I could not escape. Finally, I did what any all-American abductee would do, I chewed my way free!