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OUR YUCAIPA | FEBRUARY 2015 11 The Middle of the Road: By Randy Peters, a middle-aged, middle-income, middle-school teacher "I love to laugh, long and loud and clear. I love to laugh so everybody can hear!" This line is from one of my favorite songs from the movie Mary Poppins. I first saw that movie just before I started kindergarten. It was one of the very few times that I remember my entire family going to the movies together. To this day when I picture the tea party on the ceiling and the characters laughing about the silliest jokes, I can't help but chuckle. Indeed, I do love to laugh. An exclusive group of friends and I like to get together every month or so for book club. There really isn't any book involved. It also isn't necessarily that exclusive. It's just a time to gather, tell stories, and most importantly laugh. We usually meet in town at Las Fuentes or American Road Trip. The place isn't as important as our attitude. We know we are going to laugh. We are going to add years to our lives. My wife and I laugh. We laugh a lot. I think that our laughing together has helped us stay together for the past 30 years. I know my day is complete when I've said something or done something to make my wife laugh. Sometimes it is something I've meant to be funny. Sometimes it's a slip of the tongue or slip on the floor. But if she laughs, we've won. One thing we do where we end up laughing we call the movie line challenge. One of us quotes a line from one of our favorite movies. The other must respond with another line. We keep going until we've exhausted our memories or find we keep saying the same lines over and over. Sometimes this has gone on for days. It's silly now that I've written it down, but it makes us laugh. It was even funnier though when the kids were younger and living at home. It drove them absolutely crazy to hear us start the challenge. They would leave the room and tell us we were crazy. But it got them out of the room. Now, that was funny! "Sometimes, I just think funny thoughts." (Name that movie.… Dudley Moore in Arthur) Do you drive along thinking back over your day and start laughing at some event or anecdote? I do. A lot. But I have a supply of characters to provide me with funny stories. Here's an example. The other day I was driving home and thinking about teaching my eighth graders about the migration of Americans during the first decade of our country's existence. I explained how many people crossed the Appalachian Mountains to move into what is now Ohio and Michigan areas. I told them that this area was considered the North West of our country then. I asked the class, "Where is North West now?" Without missing a beat, one of my students said, "Probably home with her mom, Kim Kardashian." You have to laugh. My wife and I like to go and listen to comedians. We still talk about the stories of Dana Carvey when we saw him years ago in San Bernardino. We always then remember our friend, Jill, who does the best church lady impression: "Well, isn't that special?" A friend of my wife's gave us tickets to go see Rosanne Barr at Universal Theatre. It was right after she started seeing Tom Arnold. Parts of her show were funny; parts were embarrassingly bad. But it wasn't as embarrassing as running into one of my student's parents as we were in the lobby leaving. All four of us immediately started to tell about how we would not normally be at the show. We explained how we were given the tickets. They explained how they won the tickets at a recent James Taylor concert. I don't think it was meant to be the funniest part of the night, but it was. We all laughed about being there as we all promised not to tell others that we were actually at her show. We've seen all the comedy shows that have come to Yucaipa in the past couple of years. Every time we've left with our sides aching and our eyes watering. These people are funny. You have to admit when professional comedians come from Hollywood, New York, and cross- country touring to do stand-up in Yucaipa, you are ready for a treat. I always go in knowing that there will be jokes made at our expense. They are not personal. But their observations are hilarious. Taylor Williamson who came in second in America's Got Talent has been here. Shortly after appearing in Yucaipa, Brooks Wheelan went on to Saturday Night Live. Jeff MacKinnon has been here twice and has been touring across the United States. He'll be back for the show this month. Also appearing this month is Yucaipa's own Bryan Cooper. He grew up here and now does stand up in Los Angeles. He hosts a weekly comedy show in Hollywood. He's even been to "Book Club" with us. I do love to laugh. I know I'll be doing that at the upcoming comedy show. Look for me. I'll be the man holding my side, wiping my tears, and watching my wife laugh! Until then. . . . Keep your eyes on the road. Love To Laugh? You're In The Right Place!