Spark humor
"For goodness sake, I don't want the heel."
An exasperated lady had just directed that precious barb at a scowling supermarket
butcher as he was slicing up a two-foot-long salami and the two then became
engaged in a snarky back-and-forth. My middle son was a witness to this exchange
and it became a family classic, providing many laughs and becoming the prompt
for many such stories years afterward.
Here’s how it came about: Virtually every weekend the four of us, often with a
host of parents and kids, would go to the local high school and play football and
lacrosse and soccer chase each other around on the wide-open fields for hours,
even in the colder months.
Part of this ritual was lunch, plain fare eaten at the field. On the day of salami
woman, we were at the grocery store getting provisions and it was the middle kid’s
turn to get lunch meat while the others got French bread and cream soda (like I
said, plain fare). He came back to us at the check-out counter and repeated in a
perfect mimic the entire encounter between the impatient lady and the annoyed
butcher.
We all loved it – it was a genuinely funny story and this sometimes-stoic son was
genuinely excited as he told it. I was so surprised and pleased with the recitation of
the scene that I told the boys they’d get a dollar every time they had a funny story
about something they’d seen. “See how your brother got that one? Boys, the world
is full of these kinds of situations and people and jokes. Keep your eyes and ears
open and go find them.” Obviously, the dollar was a hook but over the years it
became symbolic to both them and me - the real thrill was in them bringing back
something to share.
Of course, it helped that I often acted like a joker as well. When we’d go to a
hamburger place or Mexican restaurant or a pizza joint, I’d order a taco at the first,
a pizza at the second and a burger at the last. Then I’d make a confused scene
feigning surprise when I received the obvious answer to my question – “We don’t
serve that” -- from the waiter. The boys knew this nuttiness was going to play
out and would be giggling in anticipation of the whole routine. Hey, it wasn’t high
comedy but it was funny enough to us.
Once the eldest told us about walking through a parking lot and seeing a woman
accidentally back her car into another and when immediately challenged by the
other car owner – standing next to the fresh dent and the resulting debris on the
ground – the women said the dent “had always been there.” My kid was excited to
tell us and it was a funny story. The youngest is checking in for a soccer camp and
providing information and is asked,
“When is your birthday?” “Every year” he responds. Pay the man, Shirley.
And be ready to surprise them; again, always try to be loose yourself. During
halftime at one of the eldest son’s games, I was carrying a lacrosse stick I’d found
lying near a car in the parking lot. The middle kid and his friends walked by me on
the sidelines at halftime and my son’s face lit up in surprise. “Dad, what are you
doing with that stick?” I responded nonchalantly, “I’m gonna warm-up Wheeler,”
who was the varsity goalie.
Immediately, the kid and his entourage could see the whole scene was so patently
preposterous – the old man in a suit and tie, shuffling out on a field in front of 200
spectators to take practice shots on a premier goalie – that they began howling with
laughter. “Gonna warm up Wheeler” became a family staple. Of course I fell short
a few times going for the laugh but I was always trying.
The most important aspect of this whole exercise was that the boys were
consistently on the look-out for the funny situations, furthering their awareness and
contributing to their upbeat outlook. Our many times together in the everyday
world – and man, get it in your head that’s where we all live – could verge on
laugh-a-minute type affairs sometimes.
All three were and remain good natured kids, quick with a smile and seeking the
good. Let me tell you, this kind of attitude doesn’t just occur out of nowhere. It’s
learned through active example and repetition. Kids who are looking for a gag are
looking and in doing so are absorbing a lot more.
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