Will's Musings: Blogging about life's experiences

When you’re a writer, you never know when the mood or the groove for your next piece might present itself.

Inspiration can unexpectedly strike after a long Monday at work. Even during a mandatory work from home and seemingly no end in sight quarantine predicated by a pandemic, like the COVID-19 contagion the world has endured over the past three months. 

Last month after one such exhausting Monday, I had not one, but two, Zoom meetings still on my schedule that evening. The second was to be presented by a LinkedIn coach, expert and trainer whom I got to know during what we’ll just call the “Great Unplanned Job Search of 2016.” 

The objective of this LinkedIn Zoom session was to offer the latest tips and tricks of this #1 professional networking platform. The “2016 experience” taught me, for the first time in my career, that you never know what can happen. As my fellow colleagues who have similarly been jettisoned at some point in their career can attest, once you have gone through this type of event, it conditions you to never stop thinking about being prepared should it ever (and hopefully never) happen again. Hence my interest in viewing the Linkedin Zoom webinar that particular evening.

For some reason when all was said and done at the end of the LinkedIn Zoom session, and feeling like I had nothing left in the tank, inspiration surprisingly struck: 

“Just remember, they’re just like you – they also put their pants on one leg at a time.” 

One of my Dad’s many “Dad-isms” just popped in my head!

This particular Dadism originally came up very early in my career when I was preparing for an interview. When my Dad said that phrase to me, I most likely gave it that “Yeah OK, thanks Dad” response. I was also probably at that time scratching my head wondering just exactly what I was supposed to do with that information right before leaving for an interview.

For many people, the job search process leading up to the “holy grail” – the interview – can be a drawn out, nerve-racking, series of calls, meetings and conversations. Perhaps one of the most stressful times of your life. Instead of sitting across the interview table from the person with whom you have been nurturing a relationship to get to that point, you might as well have been harnessed together to experience more ups and downs than a maniacal roller coaster ride. But I digress.

If you think about it, there was, and still is, absolute truth in Dad’s phrase. It was meant to break the tension and create some levity as an attempt to calm my nerves. Heck, the interviewer and myself probably started our day in a similar way, at least according to my Dad. So really then, why should I have been so nervous about that interview? It was the beauty of the Dad-ism.

Growing up, Dad had a million Dad-isms, which since then have become the phenomenon of “Dad Jokes.” Later in life when my brother and I would hear the same eye-rolling producing phrases that we had for the past several decades growing up, we could blurt out the punchline in stereo, or quietly know exactly what was going to be said next. 

I grew up with a wonderful Father, who especially during adulthood, I could really count on to talk about life’s trials and tribulations man to man. When we lost him in 2014 to heart failure on the day of my daughter’s then 10th birthday party, it left a huge void never to be filled. Yes, death is part of life, but there are certain bonds as they relate to manhood that can only be fulfilled through an exclusive bond like father and son. As an adult, I have come to learn that for all the good father-son relationships, others are strained, estranged, broken, even some taken to the grave never to be resolved. I consider myself blessed to have had one of the good ones.

Since I became a Dad myself (it will be 16 years next month) and started hanging around with other Dads, admittedly, the Dad Jokes just come out naturally. I enjoy the corniness as much as the next Dad — and we’re darn proud of it. They’re a badge of honor. We have a million of them. In the era of social media, there’s groups and pages solely dedicated to these little gems that further serve only to fuel our fire. 

Just like they did for me, Dad Jokes produce the same effect on my own kids. “Parental prerogative” I tell them when then groan and/or roll their eyes. They also play well in our local Scouting groups (at least in the opinion of us leaders). Something tells me Dad is looking down and just smiling. Even laughing, perhaps, reveling in the spirit of it all knowing he passed this trait down well.

Another unexpected benefit to this craft of writing is timing, as little did I think about when I penned this piece that the biggest holiday of the year for Dads was on the horizon and would become the perfect time for publication.

So on this Father’s Day, I would love to hear your best Dad jokes, “Dad-isms,” what have you, either that were passed down or ones that you’ve perfected yourself.

Any Dad jokes related to the world of work? What is something that was passed down to you? That you are passing down to your kids? What is the one that has produced the “best” reaction in your opinion? The more groans the better! 

What say you?

P.S.
Caroline: When does a Dad joke become a Dad joke?
Jackson: I have no idea.
Caroline: When it becomes apparent.
(Credit: Boys Life Magazine)