My Son the TV Murderer

On Wednesday night after dinner I was doing the dishes, my wife was trying to wined down from a long day at work and as usual the kids were being wild as they tend to be after dinner. The winter doldrums have really start to set in at the house. The last couple of weeks the kids have become a little more stir crazy as each day passes.

My son Happy is at times a little overly wild and likes to run through the house, sometimes in circles like a dog chasing his tables. Wednesday was no exception, Happy was doing his usual running dance. I asked him to calm it down a few times, seeing that he was getting a little out of control and that usually lead to him hurting himself or more than likely his older sister. Brooke always seems to be in Happy's path just as he falls or lunges and sometimes gets hit by his unusually large melon we call his head. The thing is hard as a rock and has been known to bloody some noses and leave welts on other noggins.

This time it wasn't my daughter, wife or even myself that fell victim to Happy's wildness. It was are 52" RCA projection screen TV. As Happy was running circles, the TV was on cartoons as it often is. For some reason he broke his circle and ran straight for the TV. With his hands out and a full head of steam "Meathead" ran directly into it. As I watched in horror screaming "NO HAPPY" the force he used actually lifted the TV off the ground and into the wall behind it. The TV came to a rest, as the the screen turned black and then off completely. By the time the TV settled I was in the living room reprimanding Happy for his actions. Julie came out of the bathroom looking for an explanation of what just transpired. I explained it to her as I tended to the TV. As I pushed it away from the wall to make sure all the connections were still plugged in I bent over and smelled a burning odor coming from the back of the set. Everything in the back looked fine except for the smell, Julie switched the TV on and it came on for a few seconds with no picture, some muffled sounds, a couple of creaks and then back off. It seems that Happy has murdered the TV.

Happy spent the next few minutes in his room after we explained to him that what he did was wrong. Once we came back to bring Happy out he was visually upset that he had broke the TV and apologized repeatedly to everyone. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if it wasn't the largest and only TV in the house. Yes, we are a family that only has one TV. This is mainly due to just not replacing old sets that have departed from our bedrooms due to age and defectiveness. The economic situation has hit us hard in the past few months with me losing my job back in October and having no luck finding a new one.

We have managed to gather enough money up in our savings account to replace the TV, so we have been doing research and the kids get to watch 1 DVD a piece on the laptop while we look for the best deal we can find. Happy has woken up the past few days looking at the broken TV in the living room and I have even caught him apologizing to the TV set itself. I positive this won't be the last or maybe even the most expensive thing he'll break during his childhood. Happy, I still love you no matter how much of a "Meathead" you are.