I suppose that that must be normal as I see my friends' wives doing the same thing. Of course, all of us have been married forever (or maybe it just seems that way?) and the wives have heard our jokes a million+ times. Furthermore, I don't think our wives think we are very interesting.
Being the behavioral observer that I am, when we're out to dinner I watch different couples who are sitting near us and it's easy to pick out the ones who aren't married. Among these single couples the woman is listening to her date with rapt attention, hearing every word of how he changed the oil on the lawnmower last weekend, followed by how he cleaned the gutters and, of course, hanging a new mailbox using only two wood screws. You can almost hear her exclaim "what a man - only two wood screws! This guy is marriage material."
The married women in the crowd are equally easy to pick out. You can imagine their husbands saying to them "yes, Marge, today I flew the space shuttle to Mars, came back and saved New York City from a flood, was elected to Congress and received the Nobel Peace Prize." To which she responds "that reminds me, we have to stop on the way home and pick up some eggs."
To be accurate, however, my wife does laugh at my jokes. It's more like mocking than laughing but, when you are a starving comedian such as I am, you take what you can get. Her mocking laughter sounds a lot like Fran Drescher's laugh. Haven't heard it? Consider yourself lucky.
Truthfully, after lo these many years, I enjoy her mock laughter and wouldn't change it for the world. Like all women who love their husbands, that pseudo-laughter is saying to the world:
Yes, he's an idiot but he's MY idiot.
Such is the way a good marriage works. Wives have to think of their husbands as being somewhat daft. Ultimately, this is what makes wives happy. Perhaps it gives them something to talk about when they get together.
Readers, enjoy your day.
No comments:
Post a Comment