Living and Loving with Humor (Humorous)

By Daniel Taverne


There aren’t many emotional triggers that contribute to a healthy relationship quite like humor does. So, it’s no wonder that most people in healthy relationships have learned to fashion funnybones into handles, and use them to carry eachother through many difficult times. Hopefully, after reading this you will have a better eye for identifying funny things that happen in your lives. It’s up to you to then use what you observe to tickle the funny bones of those you love. I’ve put together a few of my own experiences that have helped my relationship with my wife by using humor. Maybe these tid-bits will inspire you to be a little more light-hearted, since life is way too short to spend all your time being serious.

I am a confident guy, and I've spent alot of time in the field while in the Army. So, when my wife and I go camping she gets rather irratated at me for trying to sound like some kind of big-shot. Well, I learned a lesson one evening while out in the woods.

I decided to string up an old hammok that I had stored in the basement for about 5 years. When I opened it up, my wife said to me that it was probably dry-rotted. I said, "I know what I'm doing! It'll be fine." She whispered to herself loud enough for me to hear, " Okay, I tried to tell you."

Well I tied the ends off on two strudy trees, and I got my guitar then lay back on it and began strumming. I got about two licks in on the guitar when one of the lines snapped (sounding like a power chord.) My rear end landed directly on a sapling stump! (ouch), my wife laughed her fanny off. And I still haven't lived that down. What I've learned from this is that it might be advantageous to listen to my wife once in a while. Now, whenever my wife thinks I’m not listening to her, she gives me a sly look and reminds me of this incident.

You can find humor in just about every aspect of life. For instance, you can find humor in bodily functions. I'm not afraid to illustrate how the wall paper curls after my wife rip's a good one, cuts the cheese, or as some might say, breaks wind. Yes, in my house, gas is a great source of humor. Why shouldn't it be?

Although the following story is dramatized for your enjoyment, it is none-the-less true.
About 6 years ago, my wife and I were picnicking at a place we call the spillway. It's a nice little spot on the edge of the lake where a waterfall (romantically) splashes some 30 feet below like a 'blue lagoon' scene. This waterfall is the spillway. Anyway, we had our little grill going wit some hotdogs cooking away when I smelled a strange odor.

At first I thought the hotdogs in the pack had gone bad so I smelled the package. That wasn't it. Then, I thought a dead fish must have washed up on shore. I asked my wife, "Don't you smell that?" "What?" She asked innocently. I said, "I can't say for sure. But I think it's been dead a while. " So, I got up and walked over to the edge of the lake and I was looking around for something dead when something splashed about fifteen feet out. I looked back at my wife and caught a glimpse of her arm snapping back as if she threw something. I asked, "What did you do?""It was a rotton hotdog you were smelling, so I threw it in the lake."

I said, " I smelled those hotdogs and they weren't bad." "Well that one was." she stated.
Gullably, I accepted that explanation because the smell had disapated somewhat and the birds were returning to the area as well as the misquito's.

I setteled back down to fix me a dog when I heard a faint little sound....It was kind of like a cross between a sheet of paper tearing and a cat getting his tail slammed in a door.
"Did you hear that?" I gasped. "Hear what?"

Suddenly, as my eyes started watering and I began gasping for air, the birds in the tree above us flew away and I watched 3 misquitos fall from mid-air dead! I looked at my wife, and she began giggling as if she were getting retrobution for something. Yes, this was an interesting moment that we still laugh about today.

To make my wife laugh, I even tell her about imbarrassing things that happened to me when I was in the Army. Last week, I finally told her about when I had to spend some time at Fort Hood, Texas. I met a girl who I wanted a date with.

Well, I , like a fool spent a bunch of money on a bunch of roses that I went and put on what I thought was her door step, but it wasn't hers. It was a big burly dude named Bruce who thought I was courting him, I guess cause he said, " I aint that way!” just before he gave me a black eye. I learned from that, always know who you are delivering flowers too.

The last item I'll highlight here is shopping rituals. I tell my wife all the time, after we get out of the car at Wal-Mart, And begin walking toward the door, , "Slow down!" I ask her about the following perplexing phenominon: The closer she gets to the doors, the faster she walks. It's like there is some megnetic attraction pulling on her that she is powerless against. I then remind her that the store isn't going anywhere.

Another shopping ritual that perplexes me, and I must say irratates me is how disorganized my wife is when shopping. After trotting through the store's front doors, I grab a shopping cart and attempt to keep up with her. I admit that I can be a slow learner, so you have to understand why it has taken me 9 years to learn that it's allot easier for me to stand in one spot, and not follow her around like a trained dog. Why do I say this? I say this because she goes from one clothes rack to another, to another, then somehow ends up back at the first rack she looked through. Finally, I have gotten to the point that I laugh at her, and tell her, "Go through that rack thoroughly, then you will not have to come back to it." Does this advise work? No Way!

To sum this all up, your lives are full of incidents and situations that can be great sources of fun, and laughter. It’s ultimately up to you to identify and use them to your amusement’s advantage. When you are able to laugh at yourself, and allow your partner to laugh at, and with you, then your relationship has a much greater chance of surviving through even the toughest of times. Remember, life is much to short to spend all of it being seriouse, so why not live with a smile on your face and laughter in your heart..