February is going by so fast because of me leaving one job for another which means a lot of work that has to be done and a head that needs to be cleared. It almost being March also means I am starting to think about my April Fools joke, a family tradition I have started a few years ago.

So I have started this amazing habit a few years ago, I think I was together with my boyfriend for one year. On the first of April I had texted my father these words: ‘Hi dad, I am pregnant! Kisses, Laura’ I hope it is not necessary for you to explain what makes this such an amazing April Fools joke. First of all I am pretty notorious for not wanting kids, so news like that from me would be odd, to say the least. Secondly, why would I send a text and not even call the man about being pregnant?! And thirdly, I was ‘only’ 24 at the time and my relationship was still pretty fresh back then (not that it is moldy or anything now.. yuk!).

So what happened was so funny, I still chuckle thinking about it. My dad called my mom up (they are still together, she was just rocking her postman Pete-profession) panicking: DO YOU KNOW WHAT OUR DAUGHTER JUST TEXTED ME?! My mom obviously knows me very well, so she just started laughing and my dad finally realised she was right and that it was just a crazy joke. To me the joke was not that crazy, because there were so many clues on why this was a hoax, but many people are pitying my dad when I tell this story, which makes him very cute (which he totally is).

So many April Fools came and went, and I tried to come up with something again and again every year. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not:

Let me translate, last year I was faking having serious money problems, and my dad was like, sure we will send you the money, and then they transferred 1 euro into my bank account. Again, so adorable! But I was a bit surprised as this actually was the most realistic joke that I ever made, to which my dad responded something like: I have learned by trial and error.

So ever since that April Fools I have been a bit scared of coming up with a good joke again. But guess what I’ve found out: it does not have to be April Fools to get my dad into thinking the weirdest things about me. So even though I am older now and me and my boyfriend of back then are still together, I do not want to have kids. Maybe in a few years this magical, biological clock everybody keeps on telling me about is suddenly ringing (buzzing, beeping, what will it do?!) and I end up having fifteen kids singing the Sound of Music in the Dutch mountains ( 😉 ). But when I look at things now, I cannot imagine myself having kids, ever.

As I get older people like to ask me about it, even though the answer is always the same, so also my family really knows that the chances of me being like: guess what, we are expecting a kid that can actually play with all the toys we have been buying for ourselves! are slim to none. But as I said: it does not have to be April Fools to totally scare my father apparently. So my cousin was announcing her pregnancy on Facebook this week, which obviously I would love to congratulate her with, as children make a lot of people very happy.

She posted a photo on Facebook with the ultrasound scan of the little one, with the words ‘You are my happy’ on it, plus a lot of hearts. At the top of the Facebook-message it said: ‘We will become a mommy and daddy in August 2016!’ Totally on cloud nine. Anyway, as you know Facebook, it always says the name of the person posting something at the top. So on my phone I made a screenshot of this and I made very sure to include her name on it too.

I wanted to share with my family this joyful news through Whatsapp, but little did I know my dad likes to just scan things, instead of really looking at them. And this guy is pensioned, he should have all the time in the world to study this kind of stuff! Anyway, you might know in Whatsapp you can already see a thumbnail of a picture in the chat, and then you touch it and you will see the whole picture. I do not know what happened, but my dad somehow forgot to spot the name of my cousin.

As my mom was away again (getting ready for a concert she was giving with her choir) and she was not answering her phone, let’s just say my dad’s voice of reason was gone. Poor man, he called me right away. Now bare in mind that when I put the pic on Whatsapp, it did cross my mind for one millisecond that he might think that it was me again, so that is why I made extra sure I had put her name on top. Well, it did not help, my father called me up, and said: What is this?!

First I did not even understand what he meant, but when I realized it was about the baby of my cousin I just started laughing. When I explained he was still a bit shocked, but he was laughing too in the end: “I thought it was so weird of you to share it like that”, he said, while I could only think: did this really happen again!?

So I might cut my old man some slack this April Fools. Even though it seems he does not really know me, seeing as he keeps on thinking I would bring him such amazing and extremely surprising news by text, apparently he expects I am silly enough to actually do share it in a somewhat unconventional way. And for some reason, that makes me proud. My dad, who has always been a pretty strict and somewhat distant businessman, seems to be embracing this strange daughter of his. If he is really enjoying it though, I am not entirely sure.. 😉