14 Days of Kent: Day 4

Kent has told me numerous times that he doesn’t like his eyebrows because he thinks they make his face look mean, leading people to believe he is mean. I have to admit, I see his point, although I don’t know if his eyebrows are entirely to blame. But he often has trouble with people misunderstanding him or thinking he is angry, when he’s really not.

I’m here to set the record straight: Kent has a hilarious and open sense of humor. He will tell anyone willing to listen just how funny he is. Lately he’s been working on his “dad jokes” and unfortunately he’s getting better at them. If he tells a joke and I don’t laugh, he looks at me and says, “Isn’t that hilarious? Don’t you think that’s funny? Do you get it?” As if it’s impossible that it not be hysterical to everyone else. Although I will confess that Kent makes me laugh, a lot. His laugh is infectious and he can even get Hendrik and Adelaide going pretty well.

Kent likes to laugh and have fun, no matter if it’s with someone else or all on his own. I’m the type of person where if I’m watching TV alone, I won’t necessarily laugh out loud at something I think is funny. Kent is not that kind of person. Oftentimes I will be in another part of the house and hear his roar of laughter at something he found hilarious.

Kent is also able to laugh at himself. I alluded in a previous post that it is nearly impossible to embarrass Kent, and it’s true. I’m a fairly private person and carefully select the information I share with others, usually making sure it coincides with the image I want to project. I don’t think Kent has this internal struggle. When we first met he volunteered a number of stories that I would never have shared with another living being, let alone someone I was trying to date. Most notably, he confesses that he wet the bed until he was 12. Are you shaking your head right now, thinking, “Melanie! How could you do that to your husband?! Posting that statement on the world wide web for the universe to read!” Trust me, it is almost always one of the first stories Kent shares with new friends. Perhaps the funniest (?) part of this particular story is that at one point because he was still struggling with waking up to go, he had to wear a “bed wetting alarm” at night. A wire connected to his underpants would register any wetness and set off an alarm that he wore on his wrist like a watch. The best part is that it still wouldn’t wake Kent up and his parents would come stumbling into his room in the middle of the night to wake him up. I didn’t know machines like that existed, or were necessary.

We spent the weekend up in New Hampshire once with two couples and we played this game where you were supposed to think of a sentence or phrase. Then you pass the paper to the person next to you and they have to draw a depiction of the sentence. Then they cover the original sentence and pass the paper to the next person, who has to try and write the sentence based on the picture. Kent’s sentence was, “I wore a bed wetting alarm at night.” Can you imagine the pictures and sentences that followed? It was hilarious! Wet-your-pants funny, to be exact.

Kent LOVES to laugh, even if he is the butt of the joke. Maybe especially if he is the butt of the joke. But it makes him so much fun to be around. I could be around Kent all day every day because he makes it so entertaining. I love spending time with him, which is convenient considering our eternal marriage and all. His perspective of himself also helps me to relax and not take myself so seriously. It’s always better to laugh with everyone than to think they are laughing at you. I really hope that this is a trait all of our children get from Kent.

Sporting my hat and scarf

Gearing up with Hendrik