I only bring this up as there is someone that appears quite nearly into my daily life. He makes unfunny jokes and inappropriate asides. I don't laugh at them. And I rarely acknowledge them. Apparently I need to start, because there is this gaping disconnect. Most times, he repeats himself. Not just repeats himself, but opens with the intro, "Maybe you didn't hear my joke..." or "I said...". Given that I am seriously hard of hearing, he might think that I actually haven't heard him. Also given the number of times this has happened and I have replied, "No, I heard you.", you'd think that he'd stop. Maybe I'll just start yelling, "HA!" every time he makes an attempt. (The Daniel Toshian Tourette's "LOVELY SWEATER!" type shout that I'm picturing would really do the trick quite quickly.)
Lest this become a total negative Nancy post, I'll get to the point of where my thoughts went with this: I love to laugh. Since I don't laugh out loud much, when I do laugh, I laugh with my entire body. There are several levels of the Jill laugh. There is some bending at the waist involved. Perhaps some clapping. Maybe a "Whoo" of sorts as a cooldown. If I'm sitting; I'm slapping the table. Once it gets super intense, I'll probably be stomping my feet. Perhaps jumping in a circle whilst stomping. It's ridiculous. If you've seen it, you know. If you've contributed to it, I thank you. This whole thing really made me take a trip down the lane of memories...to when I laughed hardest; with whom I laugh the best.
I'll start with the summer of 1993. I spent the majority of that summer doing nothing but riding around in a jeep listening to Blues Traveler, or in Gilly's basement with the same cast of characters nearly every night. There were 3 specific boys that had a mission: to make me laugh so hard that I would pee my pants. No, seriously. (And I think most of you know how serious that is.) Those boys were Tim Steil, JDubs, and Mike Simpson. The three winning situations occured on a tennis court (Mike), in a toybox in my basement (Josh), and running alongside my parents' minivan on Clark Street at 25 mph (Tim). There were also many runner-up type situations that involved wrestling, towel snapping and frog faces.
Amber and Maggie were also major players in my high school laughter. Man alive, those ladies are actually the ones I've laughed the longest and most knowingly with...whether it was in making fun of each other, writing our own songs, or riding Pee Wee Herman bikes down brick lined streets...those girls will forever be stout in my book. I don't know that I could even retell a story about these 2 and have it communicate what they mean to me. I wear those close to my heart.
There are certain people that don't require words or even coherent sentences to make me laugh. Few and far between, those people. There's Melissa Cahill with her ham sammiches and fingerbending, Patrick Sayers and karaoke, Kjersti Heer and our television magic, Sarah McAlpin and high heels, and Edubs with the dealbreaker list; these people have made my life richer through the years.
One October I took a roadtrip with the brothers Cochenour and Tony Nettekoven, who was running a marathon in Albequerque. This was shortly after Tim had moved down to the metro area, and was the first time we'd really hung out. He certainly had a feel for Steve and Tony's relationship, but throwing Jill into the mix changed the dynamic for him. We were sitting in an Arby's after the marathon and a trip through REI. I'm not sure what happened in there, but Steve and Tony went to their grumpy-miscommunicating-sarcastic places. Which I thoroughly detested and enjoyed (instigator older child, anyone?). I was sitting next to Tim, across from the 2 of them. The plate glass window faced the rugged skyline. Tony thoughtfully looks out and asks, "So there're 4 kinds of landscapes...a mesa, a butte, a plateau....what's the fourth one?" Steve looks up and says, "A mountain?" completely straight faced. Hysterical. I, with food in my mouth, cannot stop laughing. Looking at Steve or Tony doesn't help. They're both torn between being annoyed with one another and laughing at me. And I can't swallow my sandwich for the laughing. So I turn my body around and attempt to climb into the both behind us....Tim absolutely clueless to what is going on. Classic.
And don't even get me started on the summer of 2008. The highlights include a night around a campfire with 3 highschool students and Mr. Boshangles, evenings on the golf cart with Bernie and Valerie, "playing maintenance", Alex's impression of Tomash's "Caio for now!", and ANYTIME I spent more than 3 minutes with RACHAEL SHEETS!
I realize that this blog might not mean anything to you, but it made me laugh. Which is entirely possible because I am the funniest person that I know. Essentially, the next time you crack wise around me, don't be offended if I don't guffaw. But if I do, know that you stand in priveledged and sometimes lonely company.
