Superbowl Sunday

I'm not much of a football player, but I love Superbowl Sunday as a time to hang out with family, munch on calorie-packed food, listen to my kids go crazy during the game and laugh at the commercials.

This was going to be our year to enjoy the big game in style. We really don't watch much TV, but this year we broke down and outfitted our family room with a brand new, latest and greatest HDTV. The kids were thrilled. Kevin and I were even impressed at how much better things looked in high-definition.

So how does this relate to the theme of preserving family stories? Well, we had enjoyed the new TV for a total of six days when one of our children, who shall remain nameless, came to us with his head hanging at about about chest level. We asked him why he looked so glum;

"I can't believe I broke it."

"Broke what?"

"Broke the TV."

"The NEW TV?"

"Yah, the new TV."

Come to find out that he and (another nameless) brother had been horsing around when quite by accident, (isn't that ALWAYS the story?) a innocent part of a musical instrument turned into a missile when launched by their horseplay. Somehow, the two-inch portion of a mallet flew across the expanse of our family room and nailed the TV screen nearly 20 feet away. To look at the screen, you'd think nothing was wrong. But turned in on and suddenly our high-definition picture was now nothing but thousands of shards of glass.

We took the TV in to see if there was any hope of repair. Turns out that it would cost $700 MORE than the price of the TV to fix it!

It took a couple of days to start to see the humor in this situation. Gratefully, the child who was 80% responsible for the mishap, took 100% of the responsibility. We now own his hindy. Driveway needs shoveling? Done! Laundry need folding? Done! It also helped that we bought the TV using our American Express card! Gotta LOVE AMERICAN EXPRESS! Only a portion of the original purchase was covered, but it was a big enough portion to allow said child to remain a member of the family :-) .

The repentant child hauled the old TV back up to the family room so we'd have something to watch the game on. It was a bit anti-climatic, given what we could have been enjoying...

I doubt that anyone would have remembered Superbowl XLIV much more than a day or two if things would have gone as planned. We've bought the replacement TV, (we're tempted to keep it in the box until the kids are all grown and out of the house!!) but this is one story that is going down in the memory book and we're sure it's one that our children will be telling their children!