I’m the kind of person who finds a sliver of humor in just about everything in life.
The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage is NOT on board with my attitude.
It takes her quite a while to find something to laugh at.
If only she could see my bathroom mirror in the morning, she could find something to laugh about.
Several years ago, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and I celebrated our birthdays, which are two days apart. We went to a restaurant to celebrate.
I told the waitress that we were both celebrating our birthdays.
She looked at me, smiled, and said, “Tell me, sir, how does it feel to be old?” Then she laughed.
Of course, I laughed back at her, then reached across the table and began squeezing the arm of The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. I looked back at the waitress and said, “It sure feels good.”
The waitress and I were laughing, and the only one not laughing was sitting across the table from me. For some reason she didn’t think it was funny.
I worried she might bring it up on the way home, but she never did.
I always find ways to turn something around and laugh at it.
Often, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage would start a conversation by saying, “I was thinking…”
Then, without thinking, I interrupted her and responded, “With what?” Then I would laugh hysterically. Of course, I was the only one laughing at the time. She would look at me with one of “her looks,” and I could tell she was not laughing, even on the inside.
Laughing has been one of my hobbies throughout life. I make it a practice to find something to laugh about every day.
After 55 years of marital bliss, I have had many occasions to laugh. Even when people make fun of me, I join in the laughter, which is all right with me.
Driving across town last week, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage was driving the Sissy Van. She was coming close to a red light, and being the knucklehead that I am, I said to her, “There’s a red light, make sure you stop.”
Looking at me, she said, “You think that’s funny?”
I must’ve, because I was laughing then. She, on the other hand, was not laughing at all. Looking at me, she said, “Would you like to walk home?”
The one thing that The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage is afraid of is a cockroach.
Once, as we were going to bed, before she turned off the light, she saw a cockroach right under her pillow. She had a screaming moment and then got her shoe and tried to kill it.
Upon getting rid of the cockroach, she looked at me and said, “Did you plant that cockroach under my pillow?”
Of course I shook my head in the negative, but as I thought about it, that would’ve been a good plan for me to use. I’d never thought of doing something like that. But it was another bullet in my arsenal.
Several weeks later, I thought about that. In the kitchen, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage had a box of sugar-free cookies, and I was only allowed one per day.
I wanted my second sugar-free cookie, and I didn’t know how to get it without getting caught. The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage was in the kitchen, and there was no way I could sneak in and get a cookie. So when I came into the kitchen, I looked back down the hallway and said, “Oh, is that a cockroach down the hallway?”
I sounded serious, so she got up to get that cockroach. I sneaked across the kitchen and picked out one more sugar-free cookie without being caught.
Coming back into the kitchen, she said, “I guess it got away because I can’t find it.”
After she said that, she looked at me, looked at the box of sugar-free cookies, and then looked back at me. She wasn't smiling; she was scowling and growling. She just stood there quietly for several minutes, just staring.
I tried, but I couldn’t control myself, and I started laughing.
Then she said, “What do you think is so funny?”
“Oh, nothing,” I said, trying to control myself, “I was just thinking of a joke.”
Still scowling, she stared at me and said, “I think I know what joke you’re thinking of.”
At this point, I was going to ask her to explain what she meant because I was afraid she had caught me. But the laughter was worth it. And I enjoy laughter; it seems to lift my spirit.
Reflecting on this, I was reminded of one of my favorite Bible verses.
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Proverbs 17:22).
To me, no medicine is better than a “merry heart.” Sometimes it takes effort to have a merry heart, but it's worth it in the long run. The real challenge is knowing what I believe is funny. Sometimes I laugh at the wrong thing and suffer for it.
Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, Florida with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone is (352) 216-3025, e-mail is jamessnyder51@gmail.com, and his website is www.jamessnyderministries.com.