The Punch Line

Do you recall the last time you attempted to tell a joke and blew the punch line?  Sure, it sounded great when you heard the comedian tell the joke, but it just sucked in ways that things have never sucked before when you attempted to deliver the funny. What really makes a joke funny is not so much the punch line.  Instead, it’s all in the delivery and timing.  Dropping the punch line too late/soon blows the joke all apart. 

I look at my life a lot like a joke, no smartasses not in that way.  Rather, life is all about the delivery and timing. If I head to the gym a few minutes too late, I get to enjoy the morning train.  A 30-minute swing at the local bar can mean the difference of great conversation with some of the locals or bad music on the jukebox from the afternoon chuckleheads. 

In fact, I can’t think of any part of my life that does not have some associated aspect of timing. I do not see it as the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time.  I just look at it as time.  No matter the outcome of any situation, I have some lesson or take-away from the person or event.  My relationships, jobs, accidents, meeting new people or whatever, have all come down to timing.  Yes, I still have moments where I suck at the delivery and timing, but rather than boo myself for hosing a punch line of life, I just work on the timing for the next opportunity.