64 ways to find the humor in things

Life is funny. This past week Lisa and I were joking about me submitting to her blog for the next couple of weeks. She wasn’t joking. So here I am with a deadline of 3 hours submitting my second post to her blog.

My wife is very prolific with her words. She expresses herself well and is very aware of her feelings. Me not so good.

What I do well is find the humor in things. I get this from my Dad. When his best friend passed away my Dad and his friends were enlisted as paul bears (see what I did there). As they were transporting the casket to the graveside my Dad said, “You know, I don’t remember Ron being this heavy.” They almost dropped the casket.

I also am a fan of lists. So here is my blog post on 64 ways to find the humor in things.

1. Don’t look too hard 

We want to be happy. We want to laugh. We want to find joy. Sometimes, we try to hard. I love jokes and I love telling jokes. I love it even more, and consider it a personal victory when I have to explain a joke.

Q: Why was the boy crying? 

A: He had a squirrel stapled to his face. 

It’s funny because it isn’t.

Don’t judge me.

Humor is everywhere. I was walking past some city workers placing a cement tube around some pipes in a school yard. They were debating whether they should put a lid on it because kids would put their trash in the tube. A brilliant worker replied with the thought that they probably wouldn’t because it said gross on the outside of the tube (It was referring to weight). Brilliant and naive at the same time.

He looks dumb. Right?

All the crows on my walk to work are named George. They each have unique personalities. I think one of them is brain damaged or on drugs. I will walk passed him with no more than two feet separating us. He doesn’t move. He is usually starring at the ground not moving, or looking at himself in a puddle. Maybe he is just vain. The thing is. There is humor everywhere. Don’t look to hard.


2. Find the funny in you 


Because I am a Christian. I do find myself thinking about things like Jesus, and God, and other things of that nature. What I’ve seen too many religious people do is take their religion and themselves to seriously. I screw up so often that (we in the Christian community call it sin) if I wanted to, I could curl up in the fetal position and never move. But that isn’t what God has in store for me. He offers me the opportunity to share my sins with him (Again, in our community we call it confession), turn from those sins (repentance), and have a clean slate with him (Justified: Just if I’d never sinned. Sound it out people). All this so that he can have a relationship with me. I think he gets the raw end of the deal but he doesn’t think that.

On the, let’s call them non-sin issues. I mess up even more. I wear socks with sandals. I have a facebook group called socks with sandals. I have no fashion sense. Before I leave the house, I have to check with Lisa to make sure everything goes together. When I don’t check with her I might get to hear, “Did you go out like that?” I’m batting about 50%, which is still a pass. Yay me. I am so humbled by my foibles (bet you have to look that up in the dictionary), that I simply laugh at myself. You can laugh at me too.

I would never wear white with thongs
because standards

There is funny in you. That funny can be an embarrassment or an opportunity for a little laughter. Go with the ladder (yep).

3. Find the funny in others (But don’t be mean about it) 

We are all so different on this ball hurtling at 30 kilometers per second. I celebrate peoples differences. I celebrate our quirkiness. Speaking of foibles, I once did a wedding where the bride was speaking her vows to her soon to be husband. The word foibles was actually in the vows, but when it came time to say them the word changed. It went something like this, “I will put up with your follables just like you will put up with my follables.” Read that out loud. You really need to hear it to appreciate it. They are still married (18 years) and committed to each other. They are wonderful people who bring a smile to my face whenever I think of them.

Children are also a fabulous source of amusement (whether they are yours or someone else’s). I chased my son right into the tailgate of a pickup. Split his eyebrow right open and got to sit with him as they glued him back together. It was tragic but hilarious at the same time. You should have seen his head snap back as he careened off the truck. For more kid fails check this out. If you don’t have much time go to the 2:28 mark and have a laugh.

Author's Note: It’s never funny to use other people’s funniness to put them down or hurt them with it. That is the lowest form of humor.

4. Find people to share the funny with 

I have a number of friends (Really, I do, at least 5, if kids count than 8 because they have to). Sharing in laughter can really make tough situations a little more manageable. During some of the darkest years of our life, we had friends that were there to simply laugh with. Now when we get together, we just start off where we left off. We know each others lives and still love each other.

64. There is no way finding humor should take 64 steps 

I’m sorry that I mislead you there (You have to forgive me because…Jesus). Actually at some point I hope to write a book about this. My gofundme page will be up sometime in the next 20 years. Thanks for believing in me and contributing to it.

Life is funny.  Sometimes it hits like this.

And that sucks.

But there is still laughter to be had and joy to be found.

Let me leave you with my favorite joke of all time given to me by my wife Lisa.

Lisa: Ask me if I’m an orange
Craig: Are you an orange
Lisa: No
It’s funny cause it’s Lisa.

Take care
Craig

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?