2001-12-18 | 7:40 p.m.
naked penguins

so there were all these naked penguins in a huge bathtub and the penguin in the front yells to the penguin in the back, “hey, pass the soap!” to which the penguin in the middle replies, “what do i look like, a typewriter?”

that’s the “joke” my sister emmy told and then commenced cracking up hysterically. while she laughed, the rest of us who were there were discussing from whom she got her sense of humor. my mom asserted that she got it from us (the siblings), but the consensus of the rest of the room was that she had my mom’s sense of humor. my mom got pretty indignant about that. “i didn’t think that joke was funny. i was just laughing because emmy was laughing,” mom said. “i thought it was asinine.” emmy abruptly stopped laughing, and a look of shock took over her face. that’s when i started laughing hysterically. silly emmy-wemmy! she thought my mom swore (i don’t think my mom’s ever sworn in her whole life).

nobody i know can make me laugh like my emmy can. i mean, she could do that just because she has an unbelievably infectious laugh, but she’s also hilarious. the other day we were playing dr. mario, and out of nowhere in this igorish kind of voice she says, “i have a blubby.”

i say, “what?! what are you talking about?” (because this is not even an inside joke that i’m aware of)

then she shrugs her shoulders and says, “i dunno,” like it was nothing. she’s random like that all the time, but it always catches me off guard.

another time, my sister and her husband were talking about possible names for their kids, and my sister suggests a name like max or something to which emmy says, “fahonkabee?!” like she couldn't believe they'd name one of their kids fahonkabee …don’t ask me ‘cause i don’t know.

she’s so refreshing. i hope she lives a long, long time because if she doesn’t, i sure will miss her.