The Psychology of Mouse Sighting

We have been enjoying a visit from my (Julie's) parents recently. Grandma Claassen (Diann) has been here two weeks and Grandpa Claassen (Dave) has been here a week. I still can't believe that they will be leaving in less than two hours! They fit in so well to our daily routine that it feels like they have always been here and I just keep living day to day life and forget that they have to leave!

Grandma spends lots of time with the grandkids, handing out surprises, and giving out Trident gum on demand! She got to play piano duets with several of the kids, play on the playground, teach new card games, and make playdoh and sugar cookies. She folds lots of socks every time she visits on her never ending quest to have all of our socks matched, folded and put away! (Talk about having faith!) She helps out in school and always helps me with other projects around the house, like organizing my files and school books.


Grandpa enjoys long walks on our little mountain and lots of photo opportunities out in nature. He flies paper airplanes with the boys and does his best to beat Fidel in Connect Four. I'm not sure he ever one a game in this past week. Fidel could probably win the title of Connect Four World Champion! (If you ever come on a work team to Refuge Ranch, I challenge you to challenge Fidel to a game of Connect Four and you will see what I mean!) Much of Grandpa's time is spent doing maintenance and upkeep stuff on our computers to keep them in tip top shape! Then, there are the practical jokes!

Last evening, Grandpa, Grandma and I were sitting in the living room and Grandpa was blowing up those long balloons and making balloon animals for the smallest children. Most of the older kids (Diana, Martita, Lolis, Fidel, Erika, and Aaron Marshall) were in the kitchen working on supper clean-up duty.
Grandpa had some different long balloons designed to be inflated and released OUTDOORS as they fly all over the place and scream while the air comes streaming out. Well, he decided to inflate one of those and send it towards the kitchen to startle/surprise the kitchen crew. He inflated the balloon and let it go. It sailed over the couch and then dove for the floor. For the rest of the balloon's journey, it scurried across the kitchen floor and ended up in the corner under the cabinets, deflated. Erika, who was drying dishes, saw something out of the corner of her eye scurry across the floor and heard a squeaking sound (the air coming out of the balloon.) So....she screamed "Raton!" ("Mouse!") That one word set off a chain reaction of people running and screaming. The kitchen occupants ran screaming out of the kitchen area while the younger children ran screaming towards the kitchen area to see what the ruckus was all about. This created a slight traffic jam between the kitchen and living room! (At this point, Aaron Marshall did not run. He just stood there, with the most puzzled look on his face, as the girls took off on their screaming rampage!)

Grandpa, Grandma and I were in the living room observing the chaos and dying laughing! We had never expected this to happen, but it was getting good! Grandpa, always ready for a good joke, jumped to his feet, grabbed a rag and pretended to "trap" the mouse, in the rag, from under the refrigerator. Moving his fingers inside the rag gave the impression that he had the "mouse" trapped in the rag being held in his hands! This created even more screaming and running from all involved! (Mind you, I am more afraid of mice than anybody else in the house, but everybody was too scared to notice that I was sitting calmly on the couch only several feet from where Grandpa had supposedly caught the "mouse". Had there been a real mouse I would have been the first to stand on the couch and scream with the best of them!) Then, as Grandpa continued to "tustle" with the "mouse", he pretended that it jumped out of the rag and down his shirt. He promptly began to hit his pant leg as if the mouse were trapped there! Then, he simply walked into the living room and sat down!

The screaming and running continued and then, gradually, everybody returned to their dish duty positions. Grandpa and Grandma and I realized, by the kids' conversation, that they still believed it had been a mouse! After a good laugh, I told the kids to look on the floor under the corner of the counter and they would find their mouse. They wouldn't do it, for fear of the "mouse"! I had to tell them it had been a balloon!

Why the title: "The Psychology of a Mouse Sighting"? Because nobody ever saw a mouse, but they were sure all convinced that there was a mouse! Erika saw something move out of the corner of her eye and her fears drove her to believe it was a mouse, causing her to scream "mouse". Her scream convinced everybody else that there was an immediate mouse threat present and they reacted appropriately! There are several parallels that can be drawn from this experience, but it was incredible to me to see the influence of one person's false conclusions on the rest of those present! May we be people of influence, but may our influence be based on Truth!