Of airports and mummies

So yesterday tbV [the beautiful Val] returned from a two week trip to the UK and i went to meet her at the airport dressed up as a Mummy.

Not to be confused with dressing up as my mummy. That’s a whole different set of counselling.

Shiny, Happy, People

i thought yesterday, as a tend to do pretty much every time i dress up to meet people at the airport [yes, it’s a thing!] that i should do this every day. And maybe next time i’m unemployed i will. Because it makes so many people SO HAPPY!

i even made two women at Clicks happy when i went to buy the face bandage and my question of, ‘Is this long enough to turn me into a Mummy?’ caused me to explain dress up with my wife and i showed them these two pics to convince them:

The Gumby Python twins

Say the names out loud!

They thought it was hysterical and the one lady started almost shouting at me, “I’m going to stalk you. I need to see those airport pictures!” [i will try swing by today and show them the result!]

But i got dressed at home so i could drive to the airport in costume and it made so many peoples days [and fortunately caused no accidents] on the way there, with my absolute best being black guys [mostly labourers from the looks of their clothes] sitting in the back of bakkies and vans. There was no way to show them the sign or explain or anything – i was just bandaged face man with a fedora-type hat [or was it a nadal?] and scarf and they thought it was a lot of fun. Thumbs up all the way.

As i was getting out of my car i did cause one lady to double take and step away and she probably got the more horror vibe of the getup but i waved and she waved back and all was well.

When i was walking towards International Arrivals there was a whole office above me on a kind of bridge over the passage i was walking in and i quickly became aware that they had noticed and all four or five people in the office were trying to figure out what was going on and when i waved they were all emphatically impressed and in hysterics.

Waiting for my Mummy wife!

i arrived about thirty minutes before Val came out and so thirty minutes of stares and connections and photographs [a lot of people wanted to take my photo] with the other people who were waiting for their people [which traditionally must be one of the most boring things to do] and a variety of different reactions.

From absolute laughter and photo-taking to trying to figure out what was going on [Is this a stag party thing? Shake head no. Are you waiting for a man? Point to word ‘wife’ on the poster followed by huge ‘Awwwww’] to getting it completely wrong [passenger walking out “He’s waiting for his mommy!” No, it’s mummy, that’s the joke, because i’m a mummy and so naturally i… ah, never mind, you still think it’s funny somehow] to completely not noticing at all [must get somewhere, have lift waiting, work to be done] and only one slightly nervous child [big win that one, kids often are scared by weird men dressed up weirdly in my experience].

But above all it was just a whole lot of fun. And it cost nothing. Well, R24.95 for a face bandage. But how easy is that?

i remember during the LUT [Leadership in Urban Theology] course i did last year hearing about a crime-riddled city in Columbia where the mayor introduced a number of silly-looking programmes where one was giving people red and yellow cards so that if they saw someone littering or some other offence they could give them a card like in a football game. The other one he introduced was a number of mimes around the city who helped enforce pedestrian crossings. The city was completely turned around and i think a huge part of it was just introducing some fun into the environment and helping people, even if just for a few minutes, to not take themselves so seriously.

Yesterday was a great day because i got my wife back from the UK [and she brought me a Shuri Funko Pop toy for my man cave – absolute win!] but also because i got to, for a moment, uplift the spirits of a whole lot of people.

There are so many different ways we can do this – dressing up, free lemonade stand outside your house, fudge bake and handout at the queue at Home Affairs and so on… imagine if more of us decided to do this more often simply to uplift the spirits of those around us, what kind of ripple effect it might have… [Maybe this can be an invitation for my birthday next year, hm…]

Airport moments have been some of the best and most fun moments of my life and you can read about a few others in the two posts below if you want more…