Silly

I'm really thankful for humor in marriage today.  On occasion I will reveal what I call Team Pardy rules for our marriage.  Maybe "rules" is too harsh of a word - but I also like the double meaning of Team Pardy RULES as if we are conquering the world, and since they are guidelines that we do our best to live by, I suppose "rules" is just as good a word as any to describe them.   Well, here's one for you:  Keep it silly.  That is, Marriage and the Art of Silliness, if you will, truly go hand in hand in the Pardy home.  And let me tell you, between a crazy flu-stricken Mother's Day and the great flea infestation fiasco of 2012...if we didn't have humor, we would have probably strangled each other by now.

Being funny is not only an art form in our home, it is a constant competition.  Both Josh and I value humor and rate it extremely highly on our list of necessary traits for deep friendship - at least, if you aren't funny then you'd better think we are funny - that is, laugh near us if you can't laugh at us in the very least. And it has made our friendship deepen through the years while we are maintaining and growing in our love for each other.  Having humor in common is not only healthy for our relationship, however, it is also just loads of fun.  And you know, above all, I love that we don't even care if other people find us funny or not (yes, that would be you I'm talking about) - as long as we find each other funny, with all our inside jokes and songs and voices and quips - if we laugh at each other...mission accomplished.  With each and every chuckle, my heart is reminded:  He gets me.

So, we do our best to keep the silly in our marriage.  What do we find silly?  Well, a while back, before Josh left for work, I stole his phone.  We had just seen the Hunger Games movie, and so I changed my contact information in his phone to Katniss Everdeen (the lead character in the movie, in case you've been living under a rock for the last several months)...so, when I texted him (all day long) he received messages from "Katniss Everdeen", complimenting him, flirting with him, and keeping him updated on all things Capitol and what was happening in the arena and so on.  Silly.  What's better?  The next morning I started receiving messages from Mad Men's "Don Draper" (the lead character in that series in case you've been living under a rock for the last few years) all day long.  Pure silliness.

What else is silly in the Pardy home?  Our Chipotle fridge.

We love Chipotle.  I could honestly eat from Chipotle like every other night if I could afford it.  We almost always order the same thing again and again, and thanks to the iPhone app, we can place our order ahead of time and then just run by and pick it up without having to wait in line (genius!)  When you place your order in the app, you "name" and place "special instructions" within each order.  I'm not sure when it all started, but one night instead of "Josh - steak burrito no cheese" and "Emily - carnitas tacos no hot sauce" I decided to put "Han Solo - steak burrito and a high five" and "Princess Leia - carnitas tacos and have yourself a fine evening" in the order.  And so -  we got a huge kick out of it when they obliged the order, and we kept the labels off our food, and stuck them to our fridge.  And voila!  The Chipotle-famous-couples-name-sticker-fridge was born.  (I have a feeling that our local Chipotle may get a surge of suspicious monikers coming through their app in the next week now?  Haha.)

Hmm, I'm spotting a trend here as I write this.  But, before you start wondering if all our silliness requires us to rename ourselves and trick the general public, let me list you some more silly stunts:  making up songs about each other (usually which involve free style rapping and a chorus involving our cat Dutch or anything that rhymes with Matilda), emailing each other ridiculous articles or YouTube videos that simply make us laugh (yes, this could potentially involve cats playing pianos), making fun of anything on tv at any time - there is constant commentary circulating our home of whatever happens to be on the tube at the time.  Even if we are stuck watching yet another episode of Olivia (the pig) or The Berenstain Bears because that is all that will calm Matilda at the moment - we humor ourselves by making up our own dialogue (i.e. Why yes, Brother Bear, it is unusual that there are no humans around, but remember - we ate all the humans and turned it into Bear Country long ago before the robot wars began and the planet relied on an energy source of honey to sustain its existence!)  And it helps us maintain our sanity a little longer.

How do you keep humor in your marriage?  What do you find funny?  When is the last time you pulled a prank on your hubster and got laughing so hard that diet Coke nearly shot out your nose?

I'm so thankful to be married to a funny guy.  Our humor thrives on being competitive with each other, always trying to one-up the last prank or joke or play on words.  We challenge each other and respect each other and do what we can to keep ourselves in tune with what each other finds clever or witty.  I once told Josh that it doesn't necessarily bother me so much if a pretty woman walked by and was noticeably more attractive than me (I'm secure enough to know that I will never look like Catherine Zeta Jones in this lifetime) but that he'd better never ever (ever) tell me that he thinks another woman is funnier than me.  Haha.  It's true!

And, if we can keep the silliness in our marriage going, the inside jokes and the billows of laughter that seep out the seams of our home and contagiously find their ways into our extended friendships and communities....then, I think we'll be laughing all the way to our graves...in love.  Don't underestimate the power of humor in your marriage.  A good joke can diffuse an ugly situation.  A kind smile or little smirk can break the tension of any unreasonable argument.  An ounce of hilarity can mend a week of frustrations.  It's free and fuels happiness.  It's healthy and promotes compromise.  When you are laughing, and always looking for new reasons to laugh, you will be amazed at how vulnerable and pleasant your home can become.

I'm thankful God gave us humor in this life.  It is certainly an optional component when it comes to survival - but, it makes life turn from bearable to enjoyable with a single giggle.  I'd love to hear how you keep things silly in your own home - maybe we can laugh ourselves silly into the weekend.  Maybe we can start a giggle revolution.  :)