Adam Blatner

I’m 13.2% clown. I just made that up. Clowns seem to do that—not use percentages, but rather make things up. I’ve learned the hard way not to clown on the job, even slightly. But it’s sorta-kinda true that I have a fondness for the wacky, and Allee and I clown around in our marriage, in the privacy of our home, in a low grade way, two sillies on the path, pretending we don’t know any better. In truth, sometimes we don’t! We joke about our inability to cope rather than get all apologetic or defensive about it.

In some ways I must admit we’re clever as all get-out. Allee’s very bright and finally I’m admitting to myself that I’m pretty smart in some ways.

Anyway, the 13.2% clown is because we don’t really try to be, certainly not to entertain others. Oh, occasionally I’ll tell a joke. But I’ve discovered that most people don’t know what to make of my jokes. I’ve finally caught on, but let’s just say that my attempts at humor, at lightening things up, were frequently misunder-stood.

It’s one of the small tragedies or faults in my life: I clowned around for people who were not ready to recognize a joke. It got me into big trouble repeatedly in different ways until finally I learned my lesson. “We grow too soon old and too late smart”—it’s a German saying I learned in college and finally began to appreciate.