Did you hear the one about .... ?

I imagine everyone reading this post can tell a joke better than I can. I'm not sure why that is. You can tell me a joke right now and ask me to repeat it back to you and I'll figure out a way to screw it up. Even one or two line jokes that anyone ought to be able to repeat easily can be a problem for me. The one joke that I have been able to learn over this lifetime is more of a visual telling than oral. Though both are involved in the telling. I learned from a fellow employee who shall remain nameless (for his own protection) one quiet afternoon as we were eating lunch together. It goes something like this:

     I begin by bringing in front of me a set of salt and pepper shakers - set them on the table and I              usually say something about this being a seasonal joke (get it seasonal - salt and pepper?). That          comment usually sets the tone for what is to follow.
     I then move the salt and pepper shakers closer to each other and have one greet the other,                  
           "Hey, how are you doing?" The other then replies, "I'm great! How are you?"

     And then I ask my audience, "What is that?" Usually the audience is looking back at me with a            blank, often puzzled expression, and I then say "Seasons greeting!" followed by a lot of eye                rolling and moderate laughter or amused (bemused?) stares.

     Then I move each shaker past the other in kind of a circular dance as though readying for a fight,        and again ask the audience, "What is that?" I still see many perplexed looks, and I then clarify            "Changing seasons!" followed by smiles and, often groans along with more eye rolling.

     Then I pick up a butter knife and hold it against the salt shaker and begin thrusting it at the pepper      shaker along with some unintelligible yelling sounds and again ask, "What is that?".

     By now the audience is wondering what in the heck they have gotten themselves in to and are              debating whether they should flee. But their amused curiosity keeps them in their seats. and I then      say,

                        

Sorry, couldn't find a picture with a butter knife instead of a gun - but you get the idea.

This silly little joke is the only one I have ever been able to remember and repeat.

It's the remembering that is a challenge for me when it comes to joke telling. Ask me the plot line of any Tom Clancy novel and I can probably quote chapter and verse. Ask me to tell of a humorous occurrence at work or home yesterday and I may not even remember what happened. Its not even that I cannot remember humor. I can tell you all about the funny stories in any Patrick McManus book - or even better you start telling me your favorite tale from one of his books and I will start laughing long before you get to the funny part because I have already replayed it in my warped little brain (probably twice) and don't understand what is taking you so long to get to the point of it all.

I was sitting with a co-worker the other day who loves Patrick McManus books as much as I, and he was sharing with me some of his favorite stories from the collection. It's good that we were outside enjoying some sunshine because we got to laughing so hard our fellow employees might have thought we were having some kind of mental melt down. I don't think we ever finished a story either - a few lines of description and we both were laughing and trying to finish the tale but unable to do so. I'm sitting here grinning just thinking about it. Fun times.

Well, just a little nonsense today.

Thanks for checking in. More to come soon. See you then.