My Father’s Day card

Both of my daughters (and wife Carol as well, for that matter) find my proclivity for puns somewhat painful (“pun”-ishing is the term Carol uses).

In fact, they might choose some alternate descriptive terms to “painful,” but this is MY blog, and a family blog, so we’ll leave those other descriptive terms to your vivid imagination.

Regardless, they both know that I consider puns to be clever — at least, the ones the I come up with — so they humor me.

Example: My younger daughter Amy just sent me a card that, on the front, shows a very simple cartoon picture of a smiling fish near the sandy bottom of the sea. The fish is saying, “Happy Father’s Day.”

On the inside of the card is printed, “Just a little Father’s Day cod.”

My daughter’s hand-written message inside reads:

“Dad,

Tom [her husband] took one look at this and accused me of being ‘just as bad’ as you are, since I am the one PAYING for the card! I prefer to think I just know you well and am considerate of your... uh... ‘eclectic’ sense of humor! Have a great Father’s Day.”

There’s a story behind her use of the word “eclectic.”

What? Do I HAVE to tell it now? Yes, I do!

Amy is a graphic designer. She has a great eye for themes in many aspects of life. For example, she has decorated her office in a 1970s décor, complete with furniture she found at various yard or garage sales, and on eBay.

Not long ago she was very proud of a lamp she bought for next-to-nothing. She called it “The World’s Ugliest Lamp,” but restored it to use in her office. (I keep trying to upload a picture but so far Blogger won't let me. Maybe the thing is TOO ugly! Click HERE to see it.)

She sent us that picture (from eBay) and was describing via “IM” (Instant Messaging) her efforts to restore the base. I commented on the IM session that it looked “eclectic.”

Carol, reading over my shoulder, asked me, “Well, what ELSE would it be? Gas?”

Through my convulsions, I typed out to Amy a description of her mother’s comment. Amy first thought I’d just made that up, and groaned. Then she thought her mother was punning deliberately, and was horrified that Carol had caught my disease. THEN, when she realized her mother had just assumed I’d made a typo (which is typical when we are IM-ing and “chatting” fast and informally), she also had to laugh.

So, between what was PRINTED on the “cod” and what was written inside, I had TWO good laughs. Well done, Amy!