Inside jokes

When you’ve been married for as long as I have (26-plus years), there are bound to be a few inside jokes between you, your spouse, and your kids if you have them. Well, in our case, dozens of them.

Last Sunday I was sitting next to my husband John and I gave his arm a squeeze. He reached over, squeezed my arm twice, rubbed it up and then down, and then gave my arm a pat. I burst into laughter.

When we were dating almost 28 years ago, I reached over in the car one time and did that same thing to John’s arm – squeeze, squeeze; rub, rub; pat. Why I did this, I have no clue. For some reason he thought that pattern was funny, and he teased me about it. We’ve done that to each other ever since as a secret “code” between us.

If we ever sat down and listed them, I swear we could have close to 100 inside jokes within not just our marriage, but our entire family.

One of our favorites, which is appropriate for this time of year, is when I was in our minivan with John and our sons about 10 years ago. John was driving, and as he was turning to go down an alley, I saw a gigantic pothole ahead.

We were so close to hitting it, I couldn’t even get a complete sentence out. All I could do was cry out, “Big, Deep! Big, Deep!” My crazy shouting did help us avoid the pothole, but afterwards, John just looked at me and said, “Big deep, big deep?” Jonathon and Jacob gave me their own questioning glances.

So of course, all these years later, when we see a crater, pothole, or just some giant gap somewhere … John has to cry out, “Big Deep, Big Deep!”

My own family growing up had some fun jokes. I remember during a road trip with Mom and Dad one time that Dad commented on the song by Eddie Rabbit, “I Love a Rainy Night.” While he enjoyed the song, he thought it was quite funny how often the artist said the title. There’s a bit of … repetition.

We decided to count how many times he sang it when we heard the song next, which didn’t take long because it was quite popular at the time (1981) and was a favorite for disc jockeys on the radio. I think we stopped counting when we reached 29! It gave us a lot of laughs whenever we heard the song after that.

John and I have said that if one of us were ever in a coma and couldn’t speak, we’d be able to let the other spouse know we were okay and listening with just one “squeeze, squeeze; rub, rub; pat” arm maneuver.

What are some of your family’s inside jokes?

I think inside jokes are some of the glue that holds families together. They’re part of the fun stories that make up activities, vacations, family dinners, parties, or just hanging out at home together.

I hope you and your family enjoy your inside jokes and create many more in the years to come!

Amy Shankland is a writer and fundraising professional living in Noblesville with her husband John, two sons, two dogs, and a cat. You can reach her via email at amys@greenavenue.info.