Make ‘em laugh!

“The reason your (‘you’re?’) still here is for the rest of us that are in your life. That also puts you in our life as well.”
That was my friend **** ******, like me a retired Regional Transit bus-driver. He was responding to my “Older than dirt” blog, wherein my last line was “What am I doing here?
That was after an earlier phonecall, when **** told me he enjoyed my company.
“Yeah,” I said; “and I suppose that’s why I attract all these ladies at that YMCA swimming-pool. They enjoy my company.”
A few years ago I went on an Erie Canal cruise sponsored by my Transit retirees club. To do so I daycared my previous dog at a nearby kennel. That kennel is co-owned by two ladies, one of whom is fairly attractive.
Returned from the cruise I walked into the store and said “As you can see, the boat didn’t sink.”
That had that lady rolling on the floor.
I’ve considered eating out with both those co-owners, but if I did the restaurant crew would wonder how an old geezer got two — count ‘em two — ladies to eat out with him.
If they asked I’d tell them the secret, which is make ‘em laugh.
My uncle, deceased, sold cars for a large Ford dealership in south Jersey. He was probably the most successful salesman that dealer had at that time (‘50s-‘60s). People wanted to buy a car from him. He made them laugh. He wasn’t trying; he just did.
I do pretty much the same thing. I make comments and snide remarks that make people laugh.
“I have wonderful news,” I told my wife one day. “Of all the places on this vast planet Santa Claus could visit, he’s coming to tiny West Bloomfield.”
She looked at me and said “This is why I married you.”
Years ago, at the Mighty Mezz, I told a young girl “Yer gonna get married some day. Whatever ya do, marry someone that makes ya laugh. Do that, and yer in it for the long haul. Yer gonna be frustrated sometimes, angry, jealous, whatever. But if he can make ya laugh, ya’ll get over it.
I often wonder how my wife put up with me 44&1/2 years. I’m half insane, and driven by all-too-many compulsions and interests. If she had any interest in me at all, it was seeing me happy, which we got chasing trains. She wasn’t the least bit interested in trains.
She told me the main reason she stayed with me was because I made her laugh. I wasn’t trying; I just did. I’d make some comment or snide remark which got her laughing.
I eat out usually once per week with a widow who like me lost her beloved. She tried online dating, but became tired of the creeps and weirdos.
We discuss our attempts to find companionship. “What I’d like most is to find somebody normal.”
“Then why in Hell’s name are you hanging around with me?”
“Because yer funny,” she exclaimed; “and not boring as Hell.”
That widow and I are worlds apart, but she seems to keep wanting to eat out with me.
She showed me a “flirt” from a Senior Singles site.
“Looks like a Republican,” I snapped, upsetting other restaurant patrons.
She laughed; not everyone does. Some take offense when none was offered.
My wife would laugh. Another Ford sold — maybe a T-bird.

• For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service (RTS) in Rochester, NY, a public employer, the transit-bus operator in Rochester and environs. My heart-defect caused stroke October 26th, 1993 ended that. I retired on medical-disability, and that defect was repaired.
• I do aquatic balance training in the Canandaigua YMCA’s swimming-pool, two hours per week — plus a third hour on my own.
• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired over 13 years ago. Best job I ever had — I was employed there almost 10 years — over 11 if you count my time as a post-stroke unpaid intern.
• I’m a railfan.
• My wife died of cancer April 17th, 2012. I still miss her. Best friend I ever had, and after my childhood I needed one. She actually liked me.