Laughter part two

Hubby has always made me laugh. We were friends for several years before we were married, and while he is an introvert and claims to have the emotional range of a "cow," he's also very funny.

His humor is on the dry, slightly sarcastic side and comes from life observations.

When I was growing up, my brother Danny developed a "pet" voice. He talked for the animals, mostly the cats. If one of us was petting the cat, Danny would say in this modified voice, "I bite, and I bite hard." Or, "I'm gonna bite you."

It was pretty funny. So, after Tony and I were married, we acquired a few pets and this family tradition in my background surfaces. Pretty soon, we were both talking to the animals. We'd actually have 3 or 4 way conversations going on between us. Me and Tony talking to the cat and/or dog and then one of us answering for said animal.

We'd make up songs "from" them, play games. One time Hubby had the cat on the bed and pretended to pay hide and seek with our dog, Jack. He put Red's paws over his eyes and counted, "One, two, free... Ready or not, here I come."

At the precise moment Hubby removed the paws from Red's eyes, dog Jack walked past the bed and Red leaned over as if to say, "I found you."

Hubby said something like, "Stupid dog, can't even hide."

We laughed so hard. So hard. Some of the songs we made up were pretty funny, but I can't remember them.

One Christmas someone from church gave us a big box of chocolates. I only like the caramel filled kind, not the the coconut or raspberry or whatever. So, I pinched all the bottoms to find the ones I wanted. Hubby comes home to find all the chocolates slightly wreck. Of course he knows I did it, but he looked at me and said, "Hey, someone gave us defective chocolates."

Or something like that, but it was absolutely funny. Some times the smallest things are the funniest.

Back to the pets, my brother Joel lived with us for awhile, so he became a fifth voice in the house. One time he was sitting on the couch with Hubby. In between them was Red, the cat. Now, Red is staring at the ceiling. So, Joel looks up. Then looks at the cat. Cat looks up, Hubby looks up. Joel looks back to the cat, who is now looking at Hubby. Very quietly Joel says in his pet voice, "Ha, ha made you look."

We laughed for days, off and on.

One year Hubby did a dating and sex series for the youth that concluded with him demonstrating the need for boundaries with Barbie and Ken riding in a Barbie car. It was awesome, very funny, and to this day, a youth legend.

Hubby makes me laugh. I could sit here for days thinking of things and jotting them down. There was the time he wrapped a pair of sneakers he bought me for Christmas in separate boxes because I like to open a lot of gifts. That was clever and funny, however ruled insufficient for the present rule and therefore banned.

Anyway, laughter is good.

Now, I've also cracked myself up a bunch of times. While writing, while observing life, thinking of things, reading. Author Marian Keyes had me laughing so hard in one of her books I had too put it down.

One night I was reading Calvin and Hobbs before going to bed. Watterson had penned this bit about Christmas, the parents up all night putting together presents. Upstairs, Calvin and Hobbs are waiting anxiously for Santa. They hear a bump and a bang, terrified and excited, they conclude it's Santa bring all Calvin's loot. The last frame of the strip is the dad, holding his toe, hopping around uttering comic cuss words, "Sassin, frassin, ramalma ding dong."

I laughed so hard, it just felt so much like a real life scene, I woke up the next morning feeling the residuals of the laughter.

Ah, sweet laughter.

Oh, reading Paul Reiser's book "Couplehood" got me good, as did George Burns's and Jerry Seinfeld's.

Come on, today's a good day to laugh!