The Acorn Seldom Falls Far From the Tree

The Acorn Seldom Falls Far From the Tree.



How true this cliche describes my family. This especially true when it describes a good sense of humor. My grand pa was the first person I realized had such a good sense of humor. It was part of him just like his ever present smile and upright stature. He loved life, he loved a good joke, and always enjoyed a good cup of coffee when he would share a joke or two. Each day at 9 A.M. and then at 3 P.M. my grandpa would go for coffee. He would always meet with several of his friends just “smooze” and tell a joke or two. It was always in good fun and never was a distasteful joke shared at these daily interludes. I know this, as I was part of the group as I grew up in my Grandfather’s home and at an early age was permitted to go with him for his daily coffee. I remember almost every day one of Grandpa’s group would attempt to pull some kind of joke on one of the group’s attendees. Most often they were successful and all had a good laugh. My Grandfather, however, constantly reminded me that one had to take as well as give when it came to pulling a “fast one” on another in the group. Keeping in mind, “what goes around, comes around.” Sooner or later, he told me everyone gets “pranked.””When your time comes son, take it like a man and just start planning on the pay back.”

Over the years my family had several large “get-togethers” and one had to part of these to know the good humor that was shared by all participants. My mother, my Aunt Almarie, Uncle Oscar, Uncle Art, Uncle Bud, and my brother, Bill, were at their best telling stories and sharing good jokes. Each of these family members had their own style, but not one “acorn fell far from the tree.” My mother, also known as Ike, typically told a joke just to elicit laughter. Aunt Almarie’s jokes were pretty straight forward, often my uncle Art had to explain the joke when everyone else had moved from the group. my Uncle Oscar, my Grandma’s brother, was a master of the “shaggy-dog story. This was usually a long rambling story filled with irrelevant detail and repeated phrases, which has an absurd anti-climatic punch line. His laugh could be heard for miles. Now Uncle Art’s thoughts on humor included holding my brother or me over the toilet and threatening to flush us down the drain. At the time, I didn’t see much humor in this at all. As I grew older, I came to appreciate even his sense of humor. My Uncle Bud enjoyed sharing a story that was an example understatement. That is to say, deliberately minimizing whatever the joke was trying to convey. As for my brother Bill, he always enjoyed the telling of a good tale. Of course there was conjecture as to how much embellishment he included along with down home humor. For my my part of this humor-filled tree, I enjoyed the group as a whole and every story I heard. I could have cared less if the jokes were puns, spoonerisms, metaphors, gags, parodies, satires, absurd, or lovingly sarcastic. The humor they all shared would become a part of this “acorn” for life!



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