The urban dictionary defines sike (also spelled psych) as: The immediately preceding statement is false and was told to mislead.

Now, I’m sure many of you have never used this term, and perhaps you haven’t even had friends around you use this term. I did, both.

What reminded me of “sike” lately was the all too common situation where I am reminded to be thankful for something and very soon after it changes. For instance, last night electricity came on at 12:00. It was very hot and as soon as the fan came on I was finally comfortable enough to sleep. Then later in the night my daughter starts sneezing and wakes me up. I lay there for a minute and think ah, I’m so glad the electricity is on, this fan sure feels nice. Then it dawns on me, prepare myself, sure enough, within minutes the power goes off and I’m stuck there sweating again, in silence, as my daughter has now stopped sneezing. Maybe I’ll get back to sleep in an hour or two. Geesh.

This has happend just the same way two nights already this week. Funny thing is, the very first time, as soon as I replaced being grumpy for having been woken by a sneezing child with being glad I have a working fan, I thought… This feels like a trap! It was. Those schemes are pretty predictable. Sure, I was uncomfortable, lying awake at 4 am, but I had to laugh. I know how this goes now.

So, now I’ll always be careful to appreciate comfort things with caution. Sometimes, they are just a “sike”.