Wednesday, July 6, 2011

I am not funny



I just got around to looking through the huge pile of papers the kids brought home when they cleaned out their desks when school ended.  In it I found a paper that my then third grader filled out about....me.  It had a checklist of character traits such as cute, cuddly, sweet, etc.  And I got high marks.  My heart began to swell a little until I looked a little closer and saw one box that wasn't checked off...funny.  The only empty box was funny.


I was sure he forgot.


I asked him about it.  Thanking him first for the kind comments and then smiling I said "I see you forgot to check off funny."


"No I left it blank on purpose," was his reply.
Snorting my response, I said "Well, why?"
"Because I don't think you are particularly funny," he said.


Well, I'll be damned.


I think of myself in a certain way and yes, one of my fallbacks is funny.  I wasn't the pretty girl in the room, my whole life I was the one telling the joke.  I was the one making the funny faces, breakdancing at the prom (and my own wedding) and cracking jokes to help people laugh during uncomfortable life moments.  I have never been afraid to be the punchline.


Now my own kid doesn't think I am funny?


I polled the other kids and the two that can talk in the house said that I am funny "sometimes."


Even my husband said "Yeah, I think you are funny...in your own way."  What does that mean?

Maybe I am not particularly funny.  Who am I?


Growing up I was a talker.  The kid in class that teachers had to separate from people because of too much "socializing."  My own brother compared me to John Candy in a classic scene from the movie "Planes, Trains & Automobiles."  Steve Martin's character says that Candy's character is like a Chatty Cathy doll who pulls his own string and won't stop talking.


At first I was offended, but then I just embraced it.  And I have to admit I have always loved John Candy.  "Uncle Buck." "Spaceballs." Funny stuff.  So I was okay with the comparison.


But lately I have felt more like the cranky Steve Martin character.  Maybe that is why my kids don't think I am so funny.


It is a tough to figure out how to be the rule maker in the house and also be liked.  As my kids get older, I find it exhausting to always be molding them and teaching them.  I want to be the goofy character who is funny and lovable, and never saying no.


Then I look back at the list Peyton made in school.  He checked off a lot of other things like brilliant, brave, kind, thoughtful.  And I now know he put a lot of thought into the list.


I would rather my kids think I am brilliant and brave over funny. That damn big picture thing again.


And maybe I can try to be somewhere in between the Steve Martin and John Candy characters.





Bonus fabulous clip from one of the best movies ever, Planes, Trains & Automobiles.


Posted by Angela at Wednesday, July 06, 2011

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