April Fools!

April Fools Day was created with people like me in mind.

As a kid, I took great delight in sneaking plastic ice cubes containing dead bugs into my parents’ glasses. (I still have one of those ice cubes. Mom, Dad … you’ve been warned.)

As a high school student, I convinced a group of friends that I had adopted a pet duck after he flew into a window and was revived by me via mouth-to-beak resuscitation. Today, that imaginary orange-lipped bird, which I called “Quackers,” is legendary in certain circles.

Most kids probably outgrow such behavior. Maybe one day I’ll be one of them. I don’t know what it is about practical jokes that I find so appealing, but whether I’m the prankster end or the receiving end, I still find them hilarious.

Just last year, I had at least a few Facebook friends believing that I was chosen be profiled on a new reality TV show.

It’s nearly impossible for people to play such jokes on me. Maybe it’s my journalistic instinct. Or maybe it’s that I spend each April 1 completely on guard. Whatever it is, chances are good that I will not believe a word anyone tells me today. The sky is blue, you say? I’m not even going to look.

I can recall just one instance in which I fell hard for a joke. And it wasn’t even April Fools Day. While on vacation with a friend, I handed my camera to a restaurant waiter who had offered to take our picture. He fumbled the camera. It fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. I was horrified. It was near the end of our trip, and all I could think about was the hundreds of Kodak moments that would never make it into my scrapbook. I was so caught up in my shock and horror that I didn’t even notice when the waiter held out my camera – completely intact – and admitted that the camera he had dropped was a decoy, which he used to fool unsuspecting customers. I only regret that this incident wasn’t caught on tape, as I’m sure my expressions alone would have made me a grand-prize winner on a hidden camera show. To this day, my heart skips a beat when I remember that day.

At one time or another, I’m sure all of us have played a joke or been on the receiving end of one. What April Fools Day (or random joke day) pranks stand out in your mind? Are you playing any jokes today?