Humor - a serious reflection

Yesterday I was gifted an award: The Humorous Blogger Award from The Feathered Nest. I accepted this award in my usual fashion. I recognized that I was accepting something that I asked for ... and I looked for the humor in the fact that I asked, begged, pleaded, and the blogger graciously consented to give me the award.

(I think I will try playing the lottery and see if I can get them to pick my number ... because I ask them to do so!) :-)

As part of my acceptance, I am asked to talk about how humor has impacted my life. For me that is a serious topic. Humor totally changed the path of my life.

The roots of my respect for humor begins with meeting the man who became my husband. I met this man in 1967. I was a college student and he was an employee of the university I attended. We were married in 1969.

Prior to meeting him, my life was problematic. My family life was dysfunctional. Somehow I developed a positive outlook on life ... maybe an opposite reaction to the negatives, I cannot begin to guess. But humor and laughter were not a part of my life experience to that point.

And when you are a young female, if you are asked what you look for in a "boyfriend" ... it typically is one or more of the following: handsome, popular, successful, understanding ... and so on. Humorous was not on my list. As an adult, I now know that humor should be somewhere near the top of the list ... but back then, I didn't realize the value of it. It is hard to value something you haven't experienced.

And then this introverted, shy man walked into my life. He saw life as a negative experience and his outlook was pessimistic, but he had a finely developed sense of humor. He could make me laugh. I was drawn to a person who was able to see the world through the lens of amusement.

We were an odd combination. But we filled in each other missing pieces.

We have been together for 44 years ... married for 42 years. Over that time I learned to see things differently, to see the humor in situations, to deliver a funny line with the right timing (funny is really about timing), and to temper my optimism with a bit of his realism. And he has learned from me as well. We are still basically the same people we were when we met, but only better - more complete. We joke about the fact that he keeps me from floating off the face of the earth with my Pollyanna ways, and I keep him from killing someone (not literally, but you know what I am getting at).

Yes, humor impacted my life. It changed the course of my life.

The second requirement of my acceptance was to pass the award onto another blogger.

I pass the award onto Chatty Crone.

Now I know that some bloggers may not participate in these award activities. I respect that. But since I get to pick, I pick Chatty Crone. She makes me laugh and smile and see life though a "fun" lens.

Yep! Chatty Crone it is.