"Not everything's a joke"

Little Jammie all dressed for Easter
(check out the gloves)

It's spring, Easter is right around the corner and tonight the time changes.
Oh boy! I'm torn...I love long days but I less than love getting up an hour earlier. So, rather than dwell on all of this, I'm going to reveal something about my "raising up". Time being the segue here...

As I look back on my childhood, it seems that someone was always trying to rein me in ..."Calm down", "That's not funny, Jammie", "Settle down, Jammie, and don't try to be funny" and my personal favorite, "Not everything's a joke, Jammie". (Which, of course, I didn't believe for a second). I must have been a stand-up comedian in search of a audience.

Since then, I have been known to stretch the truth beyond recognition just to get a laugh. I'm not above raising my volume and making obnoxious noises to accompany the narrative.

As a kid when we visited I remember trying to absorb everything when I was in the presence of another, more mature and developed "performer". I sat in awe of them. Be it a story teller or a comedian I would study them and try to absorb their technique. I tried to recall the way they timed the story.
I wanted to commit to memory the colorful descriptive phrases. I'd listen as these aunts, neighbors and traveling preachers wove their words into a picture that I could see in my mind's eye. I'd walk away, repeating the great lines, quietly, under my breath, determined to try them out soon and to claim them as my own.

from upper left...Rancher and I,
Sweet Momma Ruth and I,
All of us: Ga-pa, Sweet Momma, G'pa King,Jam, Rancher, Coach, (cousin) and Raw-vid
and finally,
Coach, Rancher and Jammie in our "Pool"!
(Please click on pix to get a better look)

I guess we are a family of repressed performers. We probably got it from G'pa King. He kept food on the table in the 30's by singing on the radio.

My brother, "Rancher" can tell a story in the Andy Griffith style. He has the gestures, the drawl, the timing, the phrasing...everything. Just being in the room when he tells a story is a treat. He can turn a phrase easier than the rest of us can turn a corner. Before the night is over he'll break out the guitar...we love singing! "Rancher" in the wings, waiting to take the stage

My next brother, "Coach", known to you "Backyard Chic" fans as Ron, can talk. He can preach, he can encourage, he can exhort,he can ad lib, he can talk up a blue streak. He can really work a room. He can do all the voices, too. When the singing starts he'll be right there...guitar and harmony!

Coach and I
"What will it be? I'll Fly away or Canaan Land?"

Finally, my baby brother, "Raw-vid", can imitate. He will sit back and watch and analyze and then he will "become" his subject. Be it a Ruby, an Elbert or even a bull moose. He will have the voice, the gesture, the walk everything down pat. His specialty? Coming up with the plan...of course!

Raw-vid, my baby bro...

What is especially exciting for me is watching the next generation come into their on. Are they sitting there absorbing like we did? Many of them are developing their skills already.

Now Sweet Momma Ruth might ask "What does it profit to be funny?" and I'd have to answer "Not anything really, it just makes passing time together fun-er" to which she'd say "More fun, JamJar. It's 'Fun, more fun and most fun'."

And who can argue with that?


And just for TK...
What did I eat today?
(you'll be sorry but not as sorry as me)
B: Coffee
L: Pretzels
S: popcorn
washed it all down with Diet Dr. Pepper