I’m not the biggest fan of my Dad. Sad to say I’m almost a middle aged man still harboring “Daddy issues,” not merely because of the way he treated me, but also the way he treated my brother and the other people close to him in his life. Irresponsibly. Without consideration. Shittily, in other words.
But, he does have his good points. One of the things I do like about him is his goofy sense of humor. For example, at Thanksgiving a couple years ago he pulled out the old chestnut: “Last time I was at the doctor, they found a wart. It’s apparently between my shoulders.” And we all chuckled involuntarily.
One thing he used to do when we were kids is he would turn his back to us, take out his partial plate, and then without the burden of most of his bottom teeth, he could extend his lower lip up over his nose. There is a picture of him doing this and making the “peace” sign at the same time somewhere in our family’s various photograph albums.
Another thing he used to do is he would pretend to walk into doorjambs and smack his hand really loudly on the jamb, as though he were banging his head into it. Then he would make a lot of hullabaloo and noise about how much pain he was in. That was always good for a couple laughs out of us kids.
I can’t really remember a lot of the other frequent jokes he used to make, but they were apparently a hit with the ladies, because he never wanted for female companionship for very long. I guess a sense of humor kinda just works no matter who you are.