Silly and Serious

   When asked about our relationship, C likes to say that we balance each other out.  I guess that is one way of saying that we are opposites in several ways. He's a former athlete, I'm a nerd. I'm from the frozen north, he's from the sunny south. He likes pictures and movies. I like books. I'm more introverted. He is a rampant extrovert. He likes to be out among people and will talk to anyone that looks lonely. I like to be on the edge of the crowd and watch people. He likes to be silly. I am intensely serious.
  This last part is where he says we balance each other out. He'll tell people that I help him to be more serious and that he helps me to be more silly. I'm not so sure this is true. I do have my rare and carefully guarded silly times, but I don't think I've ever inspired him to be more serious.
  I have great difficulty being silly. I think this stems from being a pharmacist for so many years. Dispensing drugs is a serious business.  When I first started working there was a definite expectation of how pharmacists should act at all times. My first employer had a requirement that their pharmacists should not be seen drinking in bars. Having a drink with dinner in a restaurant was all right. Professional dress was to be conservative. They had even at one point put in a requirement that women wear heeled shoes. I never followed that. There was no way I was going to work 8-12 hours a day in heels. In those days you would never catch me outside the house wearing sweats, torn jeans or t shirts.It would have to be a very hot day for me to go outside the house in shorts and I'd never wear a swimsuit in public unless I was on vacation or at least 50 miles away from home.
   I always acted serious too. At the time I started worked pharmacy was still a man's profession. Many times during my first few years out of college, doctors and patients had trouble believing I was a pharmacist. I wasn't a man, how could I be a pharmacist. I didn't think people would take me seriously if I appeared too feminine so I didn't wear anything frilly, lacy or pink. I also wore very little jewelry and no makeup.
   When I met C I was still this way although I'd relaxed a little bit. I didn't have so many people questioning whether I was really a pharmacist. Over the years of our marriage, I relaxed a little more. I think part of that comes with age. When you get to a certain age, you have the right to be who you want to be.
   I think C has been more successful in getting me to be a little silly than I have in getting him to be serious. For instance. Every once in awhile I will make a bad joke like, What kind of cows give Milk of Magnesia? Brown Cows. I also like a song by the group "Jump 'N' The Saddle called 'The Curley Shuffle'. It's a good song to listen too when I need to be cheered up. As you might think It is a song about the Three Stooges. I'm not a fan of the Stooges, I don't like slapstick, but I do enjoy dancing around to this song and trying to imitate some of the Stooges bits and sounds. (I'm not very good at it.)
  I don't feel guilty about doing certain things like saying goodbye to the cats and telling them I love them when I leave the house and meowing at the cats pretending to have a conversation with them.
In fact I actually kind of like being silly once in awhile. It's not good to be so serious all the time. So, C has been a good influence on me that way.
   Now if only I can be more of an influence on him :-).......