Little bird, I won’t prey on you. I won’t prey on you, this time.

If you’re going to survive any significant amount of time with me, it’s essential that you have a sense of humor about yourself and can take nearly constant, good-natured ribbing and needling. It’s a trait that resides deep in my nature. It’s one of the ways I show affection.

I realize now that I got it from my grandfather, whose relentless instigation while growing up was sometimes an annoyance, but more than anything was a near constant reminder that his attention was always focused on us. Out of love, he sought to always make us laugh. And as a result, my brother and I enjoyed a ridiculously close relationship with him. I feel his absence in my life to this day, even though it’s been almost a decade.

So yeah, if you’re going to be with me, you need to get a kick out of such silliness.

But more than that, you need to be able to give it back. Because while I can somewhat easily curb my own behavior when it comes to meeting the needs of others, I cannot so easily curb my desire for that type of attention. I guess since I myself use it as a form of affection, I crave that type of affection from those whose affection I desire. You can take your hand-holding and your arm-draping if you want, but if you can’t make me laugh at myself, well...I sure as hell can’t do it for myself.