Laughing at Ourselves – Boudoir Photo Shoot…

Laughing at Ourselves – Boudoir Photo Shoot, Thong Faux Pas & the Pub Crawl Sprawl

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.”

– Michael Pritchard

The above photo of me and Roxanne Low, a professional photographer, was taken a couple of days ago – after our gut-busting photo shoot. Roxanne specializes in boudoir photos, so that’s exactly what we were doing in East Sooke Regional Park 🙂

And let me tell you, I have not laughed that hard in a long time!

The afternoon started with us non-chalantly walking out of the parking lot and wandering into the wilderness…carrying a stepladder, fluffy white duvet and a rather large suitcase (did we ever get some strange looks!) and then for one reason or another, the day just got more and more comical from there.

I’ll write more about this hilarious, yet highly productive, afternoon photo session in a future blog.

For now, however, I would like to share with you this funny story I read recently in O Magazine, that ties in beautifully with the “lingerie/laughing at ourselves” theme:

“Recently, my pants split right down the back without my knowledge, and I walked around a friend’s house for hours, mingling and refreshing my drink, before somebody said, “Oh, honey, is that your butt?” It was indeed my butt! I was wearing a brick red thong and a maxi pad that peeked out of it like a duck bill. Truly, it couldn’t have been worse. And still I laughed. I was among friends. It would be a funny story later. The pants were getting old anyway. As was worrying about things that don’t merit worry. Things that make me perfectly human.”

– Katie Arnold-Ratliff, O Magazine, August 2017

Can you imagine?!

And yet…on the topic of underwear (or lack there-of, as the case may be), I have a rather embarrassing story of my own. I shared it in my book, A Widow’s Awakening…a tiny bit of much-needed humour amidst a sea of sorrow. I’ll share it again now.

The story is so legendary, it even has a title, “The Pub Crawl Sprawl”: 

I was 28 at the time of the incident. John and I had been married for about 6 months and were living in an apartment in Calgary. He was out at the bar with his friends. I had been out on a pub crawl with my friends and had arrived back at the apartment before him. I’d crawled into bed but when I heard him and his buddies coming down the hallway, for some reason I jumped out of bed, opened the front door and then turned back inside and was heading back to bed when I passed out, face-down on the hallway carpet.

So when John and his buddies came around the corner to check on me, they found me face-down on the floor…my nightie up over my head, bare butt in the air. Oh dear. John was beyond mortified 🙁

I dare say that was my last pub crawl.

So there you have it – a few embarrassing stories to put a smile on your face…and perhaps make you feel better about a faux pas (or two) of your own! Which I would LOVE to hear, by the way.

Related blogs by Maryanne

A Few Laughs for Father’s Day – Funny Sayings from the Alex Pope Quote Collection

Finding Faith – In Ourselves

Put It Out There – Whatever “It” Is For You

Embracing Our Embarrassments – Our Courage Gives Others Candour

Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her regular weekly blog, please sign up here.