Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Reason 67 why I feel lucky that anyone gets my jokes

Two of Gogo's greeting rituals from when we were all little:

1. He'd shake your hand really hard, so that your elbow flopped around and your teeth rattled in your jaw. "What's the matter with your arm?" he'd say, "Why's it flopping around like this?" And you'd try to say it was his fault, but with all the teeth rattling and giggling, that was never successful, so he'd just keep shaking and questioning until he cracked himself up.

Little kids love this. I've added my own questions: "What happened to your arm? Did you lose your bones? How do you lose your own BONES?"

2. When I was quite small, I wondered seriously about Gogo's eyes. I'd tumble out of the car in, for example, my blue terrycloth outfit with the elephant on the shirt (it sounds ridiculous, but I think dressing little kids essentially in bath towels is pretty smart) and he'd say, "That's a good-looking suit! I like that green and pink polka-dotted suit."

"No, Gogo, it's blue!"
"What's the matter with your eyes? That's not blue, it's purple with yellow stripes!"
"No, Gogo!"
"Sure it is! It's green with orange flowers!"
"GOGO!"

This from a man who'd wear plaid pants and a plaid shirt with a complementary cardigan. It was worst (=GREAT) when the plaids didn't match.

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