It’s Day 374 of the Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose Project and a case of “Caught Raccoon Handed!” has kept me laughing for almost twenty-four hours. Remember that commercial where the woman is standing on her back patio calling “Here kitty!”? A huge raccoon meanders into her bedroom and she says, “Good girl. Come snuggles with mama.” Then the voice over asks, “Missing something?” and goes on to advertise for eyeglasses. The brilliant ad always gets a laugh from me, and I was tickled pink last night when we had a raccoon visitor and experienced our own version of it.

I walked into the kitchen and my husband pointed to the back deck and told me, “Skylar is eating french fries.” I looked and  saw a huge raccoon –– not our cat –– sitting right beneath the outdoor light going through the garbage –– including an empty Frisch’s fry container I’d placed in the small metal trash can I keep there for when I work –– and dine alfresco. “That’s not Skylar!” I laughed. “That’s a raccoon!” He went out and shooed her away while chastising me for leaving garbage out. “I didn’t leave it out! It was in a can with a lid on it,” I defended myself.  “They have hands!” he explained and went on to tell me how they use them to open all all manner of things. I couldn’t stop laughing then and I’m still laughing now. She was caught raccoon handed!

This isn’t the first time a raccoon has been mistaken for our kitty who was supposed to be an indoor cat but has always had other ideas. Once while doing homework on the deck, I felt the presence of an animal and reached over to pet what I thought was Skylar. Instead, it was a raccoon. And my husband didn’t have to tell em about raccoons having hands and using them like humans. I found this out for myself while on a woman’s retreat at Heuston Woods, one of our state parks. All of the women had brought yummy treats and we left our hotel room doors open so we could visit each and help ourselves. Well, when my roommate and I got back to ours, a huge raccoon sat with a piece of rye bread in her hand. If that wasn’t bad enough, we weren’t on the ground floor. How did she get up there???

As a Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose Swan, I had an important meeting this morning and didn’t get much else done work wise. But before I headed out, I read my devotional entitled, “Life of Laughter”. It talked about God restoring our laughter and joy. (Job 8:21) If we’re not careful about minimizing our barriers and maximizing beauty and our best lives, we can lose both. And to be completely honest, I’m facing some barriers. I call them Ds. Dysfunctional relationships are the particular D plaguing me right now. It would be so easy to let the stress and worry about the situation steal my joy and reduce me to tears. Instead, the Lord saw fit to not only speak to me through His Word to remind me about living a life of laughter, He gave me a reason to laugh by letting me witness a raccoon being caught red handed!

Are you Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose about living a life of laughter? When is the last time you delighted in something hilarious? No matter what you’re facing, God still wants to restore your joy.