20070111

The Best Years of My Life: Cuttin' Up With Carole and Telling Old Jokes

When I went out to San Antonio in 1996, I was having a good time on my first day meeting and talking with the staff. After talking for only a few moments with one of the assistants, she said, "so you are one of those kind!" I guess she meant I was a "cut up." I think I was telling her about my family. I said I grew up in the city, but my wife grew up on a farm. I told her I had never seen a cow until I met my wife. She laughed.

Carole likes to tell me stories about her growing up on the farm in North Carolina. Her folks lived in the same house for over 60 years. She said she stood in the same spot at the end of their driveway for twelve years waiting to catch the school bus. I said, "Why? Didn't it ever come?"

Anyway, I told her I had to walk to school and it was two miles uphill both ways. Actually (old joke), going to school wasn't so bad; it was just the principal of the thing. I liked the first grade best (older joke). I spent three of the best years of my life in the first grade.

Carole also tells me stories about their dog, Zeb. She said her dad named all their dogs Zeb, and they all got run over in the road. She said when the last Zeb got run over, her dad got mad and went out into the road shaking a tobacco stick over the dead dog yelling "you blasted dog, didn’t I tell you this was going to happen if you didn’t stay out of the road?"