A Sense of Humor

Over the years I’ve learned that something we all need to have to get through our life’s journey is a sense of humor. Even when we hit some serious bumps on our path, it helps to have a good sense of humor to get past them.

I grew up with a Dad who liked to tease you and pull a practical joke now and then. It didn’t take me long to learn how to give a retort to his teasing. And afterward we’d both have a good, hearty laugh.

An example. My brother loved adding a large slice of onion to his hamburgers. One night, when he was 16, he had a date on Saturday night. It just so happened Mom decided to make hamburgers and fried potatoes for supper. Sitting down to our meal we saw a plate filled with sliced tomatoes, a bowl of lettuce from the garden, a plate with sliced onion, and a jar of home canned dill pickles.

After saying grace, my brother started building his hamburger. He started to reach for the plate of sliced onions, then thought better of it because of his having a date.

My Dad told him to go ahead and put the onion on his hamburger because he could tell him he had a sure fire way to get rid of onion breath. Although he should have known better, my brother fell for Dad’s line and ate two big hamburgers with onions.

Finishing his meal, my brother said to my Dad, “Okay. How do I get rid of onion breath?” With a straight face, Dad replied, “See that third drawer in the cupboard where the sink is?”

“Yes. What about it?”

“Well, that’s where your Mom keeps her garlic. So you just go over there, eat a couple cloves of garlic and you won’t have onion breath.”

Needless to say, my brother was less than amused. My Mom, Dad, and I, however, had a good laugh at my brother’s expense.

When I got engaged, a neighbor commented to my Dad she was surprised to hear I was going to get married. I know she made the comment because I was 24-years-old and, at that time, the general thought was if you weren’t married by age 20, you probably wouldn’t get married.

Dad came back with, “Well I figure it was the last chance they both had to get married and neither one wanted to miss it.”

I have to admit I’d have loved to see the look on my neighbor’s face at Dad’s comment.

Everywhere I’ve worked, there’s always been an air of fun. Good natured teasing, telling jokes, pulling pranks. But that’s what made each day go a lot faster and possible to get through unforeseen problems.

The other part of having a sense of humor is being able to laugh at yourself. We shouldn’t be so uptight that we can’t laugh at ourselves. We should all be able to give and take when it comes to a sense of humor.

You can find humor everywhere if you look. I’ve found myself giggling at the antics of animals. One year, we had a calf who loved to come running pell mell up behind you and just before he collided with you, he’d put on the brakes and go skidding.

And who can’t help but laugh at things that children say and do. When one of my grandsons, at age four, kept asking his mother for another piece of gum and she kept refusing, she finally lost her patience and asked her son, “Do you want me to count to three?”

“No,” he answered. “I just want another piece of gum.”

So the next time you find your road difficult to travel, look around and see what can bring out your sense of humor. A good, hearty laugh is always good to hear.