"I'm glad you married her."

 Skye's laughter filled the room on Sunday as Donna and I were talking to one another from separate rooms in our home. Donna was being her usual sarcastic self and I was slinging back comments to her and at one point called her a creep. This odd term of endearment is what set Skye off and caused her to say to me, "I'm glad you married her."

I can't even remember what caused me to call Donna a creep, but my response to Skye was, "Oddly enough, Honey, I'm glad I did too." If it's one thing that Donna brings to our family, it's laughter. She's one of the most witty, outrageous comics I've known. People who know here well question whether she missed her calling because she's such a joker.

Donna wanted to know why Skye was happy I married her and Skye's reply to that question was, "Because you're funny, you're hysterical, and you're hilarious." Now, for you vocab-lovers out there, the three reasons she listed may seem redundant. But, to Skye, there are distinct nuances. I will pare it down and translate it to mean, Donna is hysterically funny. She has us all laughing to the point of tears at times and that is where the hysterics come into play.

Donna keeps all of us laughing

Donna loves to have fun. And she loves to hear her loved one's laugh. It's music to her ears. So, you'll hear a lot of it here in the Graffam home. Donna has a way of finding the idiosyncrasies in her loved ones and using them to her comical advantage. For example, she tells me and anyone in earshot that when I drink a glass a water, I drink like an elk. Now, Skye takes great pleasure in telling me repeatedly, that I'm like an elk. Not exactly a parallel I like being drawn, but when you live with an animal expert (Donna manages the zoo keeping staff at the Queens Zoo), one that I can't seem to avoid.

Donna also likes to use physical humor to get a laugh. So, her exaggerated parody of a carnival dancer  sends anyone into laughter. Especially when it's done as she's loading or unloading the dishwasher.

So, like Skye, I am also glad I married Donna. She's kept the past nearly 13 years of marriage tethered in fun and humor and I've found it's a critical ingredient to our success. I'm so glad I get to continue the journey and look forward to the next comedy act. With Donna, you never know what you're going to get.