Oh sure, you're already wondering what the heck this means. What it means is that when you enter the home of someone from the Geezer Tribe...you enter a new time zone. The tone of conversation will depend on the day and the mood of those present. Some days it's downright crazy.
The best example can be observed and heard when children come home to visit. This recently happened here at Casa Shaffer. Our red-headed darling showed up for a multiple sleepover. We like this. History shows that at night, she likes to jump in bed with us and talk until we start to nod off. In the morning, she likes to jump in bed with us and make us awake.
Things have changed. Approaching the big 50, she's got Geezer symptoms. “JUMP” on the bed? I think not. Her bones hurt and our king sized bed is filled with the king, queen and their small dog. Oh sure, she'd clobber us in a heartbeat but wouldn't take the chance of injuring Grover...who is always under there somewhere. Night visit? Maybe, but sometimes we stay up later than this KID. Morning? HO HA!! At least one of these parents are up earlier than she is.
When daughter, Pam, is joined by her sister, the Neighbor Lady, all hell breaks loose. They delight in watching their parents as if we were some kind of science experiment. We make them laugh. As a process of that...we find out just how goofy we've become.
Geezers live with each other or alone. They have no idea just how strange they've become until someone tells them. Who better than to deliver the news than your own children?
This time we found out that we are hysterically funny. Pretty much everything we say draws a hearty giggle. Of course it is possible that we provide some pranks for their amusement. At least I hope so. When I said something about Mr. S and his penchant for dirty clothes, he dove under his woobie (his 20+ year-old blanket) which lives on his chair, stuck his thumb in his mouth and rubbed his earlobe with the other hand.
REALLY? Yes. Even I had to laugh. Part of our communication at home involves his semi-frequent blanket dives. These usually follow eye-rolling...which, as all of you know is forbidden. This is a NO EYE-ROLLING zone.
Today I witnessed a “head rolling.” He said it didn't break the rule because he didn't roll his eyes. I called it a “double offense”. I need help. Wait until I tell the kids. Will it matter? NOPE. They love Dad's head rolls, eye-rolling, blanket-diving, thumb-sucking and ear-lobe rubbing behavior.
A few weeks back I fell OUT of the Neighbor Lady's hot tub. While this would have been humor fodder in the old days...it is not greeted with giggles now. This is kind of unfortunate because I have taken some epic falls... most of which were quite funny. At least I thought so but it turns out that things change. Falling at my age is not considered funny. But I did laugh.
Our everyday life makes our kids laugh. They think we are truly funny in the way we talk to, about and around each other. We have been together so long that we seek out new funny things if we wear out the old ones. When one of us yells something at the other one and that one yells, “I can't hear you.” The kids laugh. We think that's normal. I don't get why they think watching 'The Price is Right' every day is weird either. It makes us laugh and at our age..every giggle counts. Here's the real deal. We view life in a way that makes us laugh. We are not unaware of all the things in this world which are so sad and so wrong. We choose...each day...to go a different direction. Some of those days that is very, very hard. But we find hope in small things and keep on chugglin'.
Though they probably have inherited humor design flaws, we think we are doing OK if we can keep the kids laughing. However, if you find us in our recliners, under our woobies (yes, I have one, too) and both of us are thumb-sucking and ear rubbing...please call the kids.
