My elderly friend used to tell this joke about an old married couple sitting on their porch. The husband said, “I’m going to get some ice cream. You want some?”
His wife replied, “Yes, please, and with chocolate syrup.”
As the old man shuffled to the screen door, she called out, “Don’t forget the chocolate syrup!”
He turned and frowned at her. “I heard you the first time.”
Several minutes passed before the old man returned carrying a plate of scrambled eggs.
“You old fool,” said his wife. “I told you not to forget the salt and pepper!”
My friend and his wife were married for more than fifty years. He must have told this joke a hundred times. She would roll her eyes, but then she would always chuckle at the well-worn punchline.
I thought of them this week because my wife and I celebrated our seventeenth wedding anniversary. I am grateful she still laughs at my corny jokes. My most fervent hope is that our grown children will one day visit and find us on the porch, having playful arguments and never forgetting to laugh.
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of “Little Big Moments,” a collection of mini-essays about parenting, and “Tigers, Mice & Strawberries: Poems.” Both titles are available most anywhere books are sold online. Taylor-Troutman lives in Chapel Hill where he serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church and occasionally stumbles upon the wondrous while in search of his next cup of coffee.
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