A family of three gather in the only child’s bedroom. The father is hanging the six year old girl’s clean clothes in the closet – the very model of the modern husband. The young girl is taking her time picking up her dirty clothes. The mother is uncharacteristically standing idle, watching the scene unfold in front of her.

Suddenly impatient, mommy warns: “Beth, if you don’t hurry up we won’t have time to play before bedtime.”

“Oh mommy, you’re just joking.”

Daddy chimes in: “come on Beth, when was the last time you heard mommy tell a joke?”

“When I was three and a half.”

Did anyone present find this exchange funny? Was Beth attempting to practice with her budding sense of humor, was she serious, or was she merely saying the first thing that came to her young mind? Did Beth ever pick up her dirty clothes? How much of that catchup came out of the princess shirt? How did I manage to get a tortilla chip fragment in my eye? Does anyone else find that seam across the top of the toe in most socks annoying as hell? Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe; and if so, would they like catchup in their scrambled eggs?

Yeah, I don’t know where I was going with that either.