Once in a while someone will say something to me that nearly causes me to stoop from aching laughter. A dear elderly client said something to me yesterday that indeed caused me to almost fall off my chair from laughter simply because I wasn’t expecting to hear something so funny from her as well as the way it was said so deliberately in her matter-of-fact tone. People who have the ability to say clever things jokingly without showing any emotion have a real talent simply because they can contain their own laughter during delivery. I’m not so good at that because I usually start laughing before I can even finish telling the funny story and certainly long before the punch line arrives.
I know now why really good comedians are so popular with being able to keep a straight face while everyone else is laughing. I would say the only ability I have in causing people to laugh is to mimic some who have quirky expressions and canned greetings or introductions. When someone calls on the phone and says, “XYZ here.”, I so very much want to respond, “Really! I thought you were on the other end of this connection.” In thinking about it, it’s really too bad we don’t have slapstick humor on the TV similar to the comedy Laugh In that played for a number of seasons. One of my favorite comedians who played on it was Lilly Tomlin with her skits of a naughty switchboard operator.
I was blessed today by the arrival of a very dear and long time friend who decided to pay me a short visit at the office since She’d not seen me since before the snow arrived. She’s one of those whom we all likely have in our lives in being a friend with which we can usually pick up where we’ve left off from the last get together. After all the catching up, I went on to tell her what’s been happening in my life since before the snows as well as what I’ve been doing to keep things moving along in my life. I do hope everyone has their network of people with whom they can freely speak without fear of conversations being distorted or words being taken out of context.
I was talking to a client who’s just getting his home ready to sell and move to another State where his lady friend lives. I certainly wish the best for him but I did in a very light way, remind him that oft times there is found a very large void to be dealt with when moving away from one’s friends, familiar haunts, and church communities. That is something most don’t realize until they find themselves wondering what to do in a strange new city or town. I made him promise me that he would work hard in developing new friendships and become involved in community projects.
Just as my friend was getting ready to leave, she stopped, looked at the ceiling in thought and said, “I think I remember something about what you were talking about earlier.” To my absolute astonishment, she helped solve a bit of a puzzle I’ve been wrestling with for some weeks. Just like it was nothing at all, she solved the problem. As some consider, problems sometimes are solved by people on the far outskirts of our playing fields. So here I’ve given a classic example of something coming out of left field.
