Funny

We wonder, sometimes, on days when we have made each other laugh so hard we can't breathe, or right after a stranger comments on how cute and funny we are together, or when we see other couples who seem so serious or cross or vaguely distant, are we that odd? Yeah, we are odd, no question there, plenty odd.

We can come up with examples from our coupled friends who are funny and affectionate, Dave and K, and my cousins E & E - who have been together for a couple of decades and are still amused and delighted with each other. All have been through strange beginnings and hard times, and proven themselves to each other.

But, it seems unusual, aside from the people we most know. Perhaps other couples hide their humor in public. Or don't have a joint wit account. I certainly was not so funny before I got with D. A fellow Guard member, and RN at work, who I think is one of the funniest people I have ever known, once told me he thought D and I must make each other laugh a lot at home, because we were both so funny. I took this as high praise from an expert. Dear Beezer, I so miss working with a man who wears flowered nurse jackets and his kids sunglasses, just to see how others will react. He told me that his wife didn't think he was that amusing, which didn't seem to be a joke.

We speculate it has something to do, in our case, with having been close friends through difficult times, the love affair only being a discrete part of our relationship. All those hours and days and months with little to do but complain, chat, and simply spend time together quietly. Catching each other's eye in formation, letting an eloquent eye-roll suffice for swearing. Humor buoyed us up, our saving grace, and not just then. When I got to D at the instacare when he'd shattered his elbow, I readily got him laughing - to the bemusement of his nurse. There would be tears later, but at that moment...

And we wonder if happy dates aren't the culprit, jokes at a nice restaurant to show how funny one is, cannot be the same as grim mutual amusement at exhaustion and hunger and grief, pain and extremis. Or maybe just people marrying when they are still so young that they eschew childish things. We have no difficulty with appearing silly, to each other or anyone else.

So, tell me, are you in a coupled pair, and are funny? Or, are most of your married (sic) friends funny? And, why, do you think? Feel free to answer here, or link to your own blog. Your choice. This has been a conundrum to both of us for many years, how any couple could survive without big dollops of laughter applied liberally.