A Response To Morreall's Essay Enjoying Incongruity

About eight years ago, there was a funny situation that happened with my daughters’ father. It wasn’t entirely funny while it was happening but it was definitely an after-the-fact funny situation. It is my hope to show that this experience can be related to Morreall’s essay, “Enjoying Incongruity.” Earlier in the day, I had played a soccer game and injured both of my ankles. So, that evening my daughters’ father had to cook dinner because I was laid up in bed icing and elevating my ankles. The menu for that night’s dinner was fried shrimp, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable. It seemed pretty straightforward and my daughters’ father seemed more than capable to accomplish it. Boy was I wrong! Everything seemed, and sounded (remember I was laid up in bed), to be going smoothly until it was time for him to mash the
My ankles were injured and I was confined to my bed unable to do things I wanted or needed to do. Hence my having negative emotions (being a little perturbed) when my daughters’ father was screaming for me to come to the kitchen. But, I also had the desire to understand why he would be screaming for me. My negative emotions dissipated when I realized he was in a serious situation but, thankfully, nothing life threatening. My puzzlement dissipated only slightly because, although I knew what the problem was, I had no idea how he had gotten there. But, since there was no serious harm and I knew we would never fully understand just how he got his finger stuck, I was able to disengage from the situation and see the humor in it. On the other hand, my daughters’ father did not find the situation as humorous as I did. He wasn’t able to disengage from the situation like I was because it had happened to him and I also think he was a little embarrassed it did. Nevertheless, time can allow disengagement to happen and overtime he has started to laugh with us whenever we are reminded of the