I enjoy making people laugh, especially my family. Several times a week, I express mock anger because Maria did not laugh at a joke or pithy comment.
But even I have to draw the line when I know I’m being made fun of.
When Bridget started school five years ago, we made an important decision to have as much involvement in her school life as possible. That has made the PTO an important part of our lives.
One night last week, I offered to help Maria with getting the presents to teachers from the PTO together. She has worked a lot this holiday season and needed a break.
So I started out with something simple – cutting string. I could totally handle that. I measured eight inches, cut and moved on. No problems at all.
Then I hauled boxes of t-shirts into the house. Again, something that was right up my alley. I felt very helpful and even cracked a few jokes in the process.
But the fun soon came to an end. Well, at least it did for me. My wife and daughter were getting ready for some serious comedy.
The plan was to put the shirts into gift bags. Those gift bags needed tags. We already had homemade gift tags so the serious craft work had already taken place.
I needed to run a string through the small hole at the top of the tag and complete a complicated procedure – well, complicated for me – to make sure the string stayed on the tag.
What ensued was what my daughter called “better than any live show on television.” This is the part of making my family laugh which I don’t always enjoy.
I had to fold the string in half, make a small loop, slide it through the hole, then take the other end, make another loop, pull that end through the loop and tie the end to it stayed secure.
Sounds simple enough for you. I’m a guy with small fingers battered by years of wrestling. I managed the first part OK, but could not get the last part done to save my life.
I really tried. Sometimes with activities like this, I might make a weak effort so I don’t have to do the work, but I really tried.
We eventually settled on a system where I did the first part, then Maria tied the loop for me. Of course, she managed to put together two or three tags on her own while I did my part. I said I could do it. I didn’t say I could do it quickly.
We eventually got all the tags done, and I moved to cutting ribbon, folding tissue paper and opening bags. Things went along well until I had to slide the tissue paper in the bags so they could be ready for Maria to put a shirt in the bag. I again struggled with the precision of the job.
But that time I didn’t elicit any laughs. The funny thing is, I needed a laugh at that point. I guess I just can’t win sometimes.