Dropping a few lines to shoot the bull
10/12/03 12:01 PM
Have you ever done something you thought was just hilarious and you had to share it with someone and when you did … they didn’t laugh? Well I have and two occasions come to my mind.
A hundred years ago when Ed and I left South Dakota and moved to New Mexico I really got to missing one of my good (I thought) friends, so I sat down to write her a letter and said, "Just thought I’d drop you a few lines and shoot the bull." This struck me so funny so instead of writing a letter, I drew several wiggly lines down almost to the bottom of the page. There I drew a stick man with a smoking gun in his hand and a dead bull laying at his feet. Now think about it … that’s kinda funny, right? Made me laugh and not very many things do. I never even got an answer from her. That’s ok … I still think it’s funny.
The second occasion that comes to mind was during a lunch break at Pioneer Manor Nursing Home in Gillette, Wyo. All of the skinny women were discussing their fat (as if the real fat one at the table couldn’t hear or didn't have any feelings) and about how many pounds they all thought they needed to lose. I spoke up and told them that I had been on Weight Watchers four years and was finally on maintenance, which I thought was a funny spur-of-the-moment one-liner. Again, no one laughed. One, however, did say she didn’t think I had much of a goal. She missed the whole point! Lighten up, already.