Eli Never Says Anything Funny

The last time I posted "Cole Says" was on August 3rd. The last time I posted "Rylan Says" was on August 6th. The last time I posted "Eli Says" was on November 21st of last year.

Based on that information, you might conclude that Eli never says anything funny.

But you would be wrong.


Rylan is funny because he is three.

Cole is funny because he is seven going on seventeen.

Eli is funny because he actually is funny. Or at least, he tries to be.


For instance, today Eli began lunch upside down with his feet in the air and his head hanging over the seat of his chair.

"Eli, sit up and use good manners," I told him.

He spun right-side-up and giggled, scrunching his shoulders up around his ears. Two minutes later, he had his legs stretched out across Michael's empty chair and was absorbed in a little wiggle dance.

"Eat your lunch, Eli," I said.

The doorbell rang. Eli dived under the table.

I accepted a package from the mailman and then returning to the table said, "Eli, get up and finish your lunch."

"Doo da doo da doo," he sang, climbing into his seat as if he'd been heading that way all along. He turned his attention to his older brother, mimicking Cole's every move like a mirror image.

"Eli!" Cole shouted.

I gave Eli a look. "Finish. Your. Lunch."

And so on and so forth, all day long.


Sometimes I think about what it would be like to be someone like Eli. When your default expression is a smile. When you feel so much happiness that it bubbles out of you in contagious giggles and irrepressible wiggles. When every second of life is another opportunity to find a reason to laugh. What would it be like to be so happy all the time?


I don't consider myself a pessimistic person. Like most people, I sometimes see the glass as half empty and sometimes as half full. But I am an adult, caught up like most adults in the drudgery of every day life, trying to keep my head above water, trying to get done the multitude of tasks that must be done every day just to get by.

"Now is not a good time," I say, forging ahead into the mundane.

But Eli reminds me that no moment needs to be mundane. He dances through life with a great big grin and a joyful heart. He sprinkles little seeds of laughter like Johnny with his apple seeds. Most of Eli's humor is delivered at inappropriate times, most of what he says is humorous to no one but himself. You could say that Eli never says anything funny, and you wouldn't be far off. Or you could say that Eli is exceptionally funny, and then you must be one of his brothers. Or you could say that Eli tries very very hard to be funny, and whether or not he succeeds, he makes a lot of people very very happy. And that would be the truth.