Have you heard the one about the guy who took a job in North Dakota, quit his job and sold the family’s house in South Dakota, then decided not to move to North Dakota and had to find a new job and new house in South Dakota?

Funny story…well more of a saga fueled by a few ill-timed events and more than enough natural disaster.

If all would have went as planned my family and I would have renounced our South Dakota citizenship by now and be residents of Minot, ND. But as life will have it, more so than not, all did not go as planned and I have filed for an extension on my South Dakota work visa. Things could be worse; they can always be worse. We could own a house submerged in the flood waters of the Souris River.

If the flood would have held off for another few weeks, that’s exactly what would have happened as all the houses we were considering for purchase were filled to varying depths with the murky flood waters. We feel for those who own those homes and the thousands of others affected by the flood and are very much aware our circumstances and situation pale in comparison.

Sure, I spent about $1,000 on a U-Haul to take our sofa and stuff on what will turn out to be a 800 mile joy ride. And yeah, we had to come up with $6,000 when we closed on a house we hadn’t lived in three years. Things could be worse. I’ll just keep muttering that to myself.

When I was 11 years old we went to the Black Hills for a fun-filled family vacation and after being in the Hills for a few days I told my parents I was going to live there some day. I guess I need to quit messing with my 11-year-old prophecy and accept the Black Hills as our home.

It was on that same family vacation that a lake in the Black Hills just about became my final resting place. When your father has discovered you’ve lost the keys to the locked van you should stop enjoying your swim and help look for the keys. Not only because it may knock a few notches off your dad’s mad meter but when you go to put your shoes on to help look, you might find the lost keys in your shoe right where you left them.

We can laugh about that now, but when I held up the keys in triumph and yelled out, “Here they are!” there was no giddiness pervading from my father as he snatched the sneaker scented keys from my water pruned fingers.

So, when my kids are older, they can sit around and laugh about the time their dad took a job in North Dakota, quit his job and sold the family’s house in South Dakota, then decided not to move to North Dakota, and had to find a new job and new house in South Dakota. When their children ask them why their dad would do such a thing, they will be forced to explain this was not an isolated incident and they may be genetically predisposed to similar erratic behavior.

With that they will all solemnly shake their heads and mutter, “Things could be worse…they could always be worse.”