This is one of those blog posts I regularly write about regarding the horrors of getting older. An example of this is the one about how my hair has decided to stop showing up to work.

It’s rather horrid back there these days. It’s possible I change religious affiliations to something with a hat only for the sake of saving myself some embarrassment.

Here, I’ll discuss growing up and putting on the mask of maturity to fool others into thinking you’re not a jester. Hopefully, I’m not the only one.

At home, I’m a far different person than I am elsewhere. I’ve always found it difficult to open up at work or other places around strangers, no matter what the environment was. I try my best to stay polite, kind, and focused. In actuality, I have no clue what I’m doing and I’m often fuming inside. As I recently overheard, I’m a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

More notably, joining the working class has crushed my sense of humor. Or maybe I just haven’t figured out how to use it properly. This wasn’t always the case. At a previous job, I was able to use my sense of humor often. As time went on, that stopped and so did any fun I had.

Laughing is an important part of every day life. It’s also essential in a relationship.

Does my wife think I’m funny? I like to think she does. All good marriages need humor in them. Imagine spending your life with someone who thinks you’re humorless. That sounds like hell to me. You ever wonder why Hitler was so angry? My guess is he was one of those people who can’t crack a good joke. His friends could probably riff well before butt-of-the-joke Adolf threw in his two cents of nonsense, ruining the fun. Hitler, please, notice that there’s a theme going. Stick with it. Follow the unwritten rules.

Around Jenny, I never need to hold back. That’s the difference between being comfortable with people whose company you enjoy and spending time with and everyone else. In the company of others, we draw a line then take a couple steps backward to make sure we never cross it.

Because I’m unable to open up to others easily, I avoid joking around as much as possible. A little known fact, I’m a goofball at heart. Unfortunately, few people ever get to see that side. The side they do see is the one with a balding head with a dorky presentation. At heart, I’m a jock with a sense of humor willing to do anything for a laugh, as long as it makes my wife smile.