Bigger on the Inside

Our family transport (an enormous Chevy Suburban) is known to us as The TARDIS.  If you watch the british television series Doctor Who then you'll recognize the reference.  If you don't, you have my deepest sympathies and you're out of luck and will have to watch an episode to understand.  The name arose last summer when I proposed that the family go visit historic Fort Snelling for a Saturday outing.  I knew, like mothers often do, that the children would really enjoy the place, but I couldn't figure out how to describe it in a way that could engage their enthusiasm.  So, I lied.

Well, not lied, exactly.  It was more of an exaggeration.  A tall-tale, bit of fantasy...  Okay.  It was a lie; but it was a fun, non-harmful bit of deception and I'm not opposed to that within reason.  I told the children that we were going to hop in the TARDIS and go back in time.  They looked at me incredulously and rolled their eyes. 

"Mama!" they chided, "We don't have a TARDIS." 

"Yes, we do," I insisted.  "It's in the garage."

"That's the SUV."

"Right," I grinned, "it's bigger on the inside than our last car, so for today, it's the TARDIS."  Thankfully, they bought it and returned my grin. 

As third generation watchers of the show, my children know Doctor Who.  That summer they had even begun acting out imaginary adventures through space and time in our local parks.  So, they instantly recognized the phrase, "bigger on the inside" as the thing people on the show say when they enter the Doctor's TARDIS for the first time.  It did indeed engage their enthusiasm and (though slightly skeptical) they were suddenly all curious to see how our TARDIS would take them back in time and what LH and I could possibly mean by such an explanation.  It turned into one of the best excursions we took all summer.  Historic Fort Snelling is a fantastic place (see the link in the left hand column under "Run, Don't Walk...") and I'm going to work there one day.

Our TARDIS is one of those defining family jokes.  It proclaims us as an imaginative family with a sense of whimsy and deeply rooted curiosity for the world around us.  I love it. 

We had a similar type of family joke that my mother began when I was little.  For as long as I can remember, we separated our trash into three types.  The "bug-bowl" held all the easily biodegradable items.  The trash held everything combustible, which was incinerated weekly.  And "Oscar", a classic galvanized steel trash can, held all the glass and metals that would eventually be taken to the junk-yard or recycling.  Brownie points to you if you understand the "Oscar" reference without explaination.

Several times a day Mama would call one of us away from whatever vitally important thing we were doing, hand us a couple of stinky cans and tell us "Go put that in Oscar" or "Go give this to Oscar".  This trash can was exactly the kind that Oscar the Grouch lived in on Sesame Street (albeit much cleaner).  His can, by the way, was also bigger on the inside and known to contain both a swimming pool and a fully-grown elephant named "Fluffy", among other things. 

As children, my siblings and I watched a lot of Sesame Street with Mama listening or watching in the background.  I have some lovely memories of Mama laughing at Bert & Ernie, and dancing into the room with my youngest brother in her arms.  Having Oscar in our home was a stroke of brilliance on her part.  It made an otherwise intrusive and tedious chore whimsical and fun.  Closing the lid at home even sounded the same way as the lid sounded on the television.  Having Oscar in our home said that we were a family with a sense of humor and a do-what-it-takes work ethic.

What defining family jokes do you have?