my sister sent me an email the other day and in the subject line she had written "ding dong ditch". (stacy and i had said we would help her with some editing of an email and then neither of us followed through.) i have not thought about the game of "ding dong ditch" for years and thinking about it again, it struck me as very funny. even funnier was the way my sister had used it in the email (how did she think of that?). scott walked into the room as i was chuckling at the computer. he asked what i was laughing about and i shared "ding dong ditch" with him. for those of you that know scott, this will come as no surprise. he did not know what "ding dong ditch" meant. you see, growing up, scott was a really good kid. he didn't play games like "ding dong ditch". (oh, for our girls to get this trait from their father!)
i explained the game of "ding dong ditch" to scott. you ring the doorbell of an unsuspecting person and then hide in the bushes. wait a few minutes and the home owner shows up at the door looking very confused when they find their front stoop to be empty. the owner goes back inside scratching their head. wait a few more minutes and ring the bell again. well, you can see where this game goes. it usually ends up with some poor mischief making kid getting a call to their mother.
fast forward to monday. my doorbell rang at about 3:00. i went to answer the door and saw two young boys flying off of my front porch while two girls stood on the sidewalk and watched. these kids didn't know the game well enough because they forgot to hide. their method of "ding dong ditch" was to ring every house on the block, forgetting that when i got to the door i would be able to see them "ding dong ditching" at my neighbors house.
my first response was "kids these days!". and then i broke out into hysterical laughter right there on my front porch. i had been "ding dong ditched" on the very heals of laughing about the game of "ding dong ditch". the kids even saw me laughing. and then i thought about it more- if kids these days are playing "ding dong ditch" instead of hundreds of other terrible things they could be doing, they can ring my bell any day of the week!
i went inside and immediately called scott and both of my sisters. it had been a pretty crummy day and this was just what i had needed to bring a smile to my face and put things into perspective.
i explained the game of "ding dong ditch" to scott. you ring the doorbell of an unsuspecting person and then hide in the bushes. wait a few minutes and the home owner shows up at the door looking very confused when they find their front stoop to be empty. the owner goes back inside scratching their head. wait a few more minutes and ring the bell again. well, you can see where this game goes. it usually ends up with some poor mischief making kid getting a call to their mother.
fast forward to monday. my doorbell rang at about 3:00. i went to answer the door and saw two young boys flying off of my front porch while two girls stood on the sidewalk and watched. these kids didn't know the game well enough because they forgot to hide. their method of "ding dong ditch" was to ring every house on the block, forgetting that when i got to the door i would be able to see them "ding dong ditching" at my neighbors house.
my first response was "kids these days!". and then i broke out into hysterical laughter right there on my front porch. i had been "ding dong ditched" on the very heals of laughing about the game of "ding dong ditch". the kids even saw me laughing. and then i thought about it more- if kids these days are playing "ding dong ditch" instead of hundreds of other terrible things they could be doing, they can ring my bell any day of the week!
i went inside and immediately called scott and both of my sisters. it had been a pretty crummy day and this was just what i had needed to bring a smile to my face and put things into perspective.
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