I Love Old People

I was sitting in the living room at an older couple’s house last week with my son and one of his friends.  They crack me up.  They talk on and on, smoke scary amounts of cigarettes, and talk on and on without really ever saying much of anything.  But I love ‘em anyway.  You know how it is, you just kind of nod and say “uh huh” every now and then.  They do the rest.

Occasionally, though, a real gem sneaks in.

During one of the husband’s typical ramblings about his past he said, “I’ve had three women and two dogs.”  Then after a brief moment of reflection while he took another puff of his cigarette he said, “I really loved those dogs.”

Then he went on without realizing what he’d said, still reflecting on days gone by.

I burst out laughing and nearly fell on the floor.  I had to stop him because, even though he saw that something had struck my funny bone, he had no idea what it was.  I guess I was the only one in the room that caught it, maybe the only one trying to pay attention.  ‘Cause when I repeated what he’d said, everyone cracked up.

Almost as funny was the fact that, even after she had a good chuckle about it herself, it took a couple of minutes before it really dawned on his current wife.  How does the saying go?  “That’s when the fight started.”

J

smh&g