Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary
Dr. Jedidiah is a psychiatrist who loves
traveling, meeting new people, and exploring different cultures as a single
father who lost his perky self for the last decade. During those hard years, he
has met hundreds of, thousands of people from various walks of life around all
over the world. Meeting new people and listening to their stories through the
formal encounter groups or being truly honest with himself. Here is Dr.
Jedidiah’s monologue that has left him with some food for thoughts in life…. or
a fodder to justify his own mistakes in the past.
Episode #82. Jenn, the funniest girl that I got
back in my life
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened in my life if
I had ever asked Jennifer out for a candlelight dinner or a long post-dinner walk
to pop the question. Would she have said yes with a smile and stayed in
my life? Tonight I happened to see her stage of stand-up comedy at a local bar was
unforgettable. I was a bit tipsy with a couple bottles of beer, so I could
not believe what I saw. There was a woman with such a familiar and mischievous
smile on the stage of the open mic for any hilarious bar hoppers. ‘Wait
a minute….is she….is she THE Jenn from my childhood? The class clown
Jennifer Meek in my 3rd grade year?’
Jennifer always made a noise out of the blue, using her mouth.
She could make a farting pop without a woopy cushion, and all our classmates and
even the teacher could not stop laughing. Sometimes, she was even good at performing
ventriloquism with a dummy doll she brought to school, so our lunch
break was always full of fun and laughter. Although it seemed silly, I found
her presence in the boring school to be like some sweet thirst quencher like a lake
or oasis in a barren land. Only
the nasty lunch ladies at our school cafeteria were disgruntled with noisy kids’
uncontrollable laughter and shouting. But it was none other than those ladies -
with a scornful look towards this funny kid – that were having a hard time
hiding and suppressing their laughter back in the kitchen. Jennifer would look
them in the eyes and say “Well, just so you know, laughter can hardly be
covered. I saw you turning back and laughing!”
Time passed, we all moved to 4th, 5th,
6th grades, and I saw Jennifer for the very last time at the
graduation ceremony of our elementary school. I expected her to amuse us all in
the playground while the school principal was giving us a never-ending speech. To
all our dismay, Jennifer had been very quiet, looking like the most invisible
kid at school that day. She was just rushing home without even saying goodbye
to me and other friends when the ceremony was over. I followed Jennifer without
calling her name and saw someone waiting for her in the school parking lot. She
was a lady living next door to Jenn’s family. When I asked the lady where they’d
go in such a hurry, she just said nothing back to me with the saddest eyes that
I had ever seen in my life. And….that was it. I thought Jenn would just be the
girl out of my life until I was lucky to reunite with her in several decades at
the most unexpected place tonight.
Her 15-minute-long stage of stand-up comedy tonight was a
real tour de force to me. Her jokes about the saving grace of being
the third wheel on a date as a free ride cracked me up. She even took
light of the most painful memories in her life, which was her mom’s hopeless struggling
to fight mental illness. Jenn’s mother had been suffering from sciamachy
for a long time and took her own life on the day that happened to be our
graduation day. Jennifer jokingly said “Thanks to my mom, who was always throwing
and swinging her punch in the air, we got no flies or mosquitoes at home even during
the long summer time in deep Southern Louisiana. She said she was chasing away
evil spirit out of our place, but I thought she was trying to shoo away flies
and mosquitoes.” Tonight, Jennifer gave me the saddest but the happiest moment through
her unmatched show time. She was showing me the same familiar and mischievous
smile after the show, which felt like I should surely ask her out for a night
cap.
Expressions
1. to pop
the question: to propose marriage
2. tipsy:
slightly
drunk
3.
open mic: a
session in a club during which anyone is welcome to sing or perform stand-up
comedy
4. class
clown: a student who tries to make other students laugh
5.
ventriloquism: the
production of the voice in such a way that the sound seems to come from a
source other than the vocal organs of the speaker
6. barren:
bleak
or lifeless
7.
Just so you know: a
phrase we use when we are giving a piece of information that we are not
obligated to give. It implies that the information given is simply a courtesy.
8.
tour de force: a
feat or display of strength, skill, or ingenuity
9. saving
grace: a positive quality (grace) that saves somebody from being
perceived as useless or undesirable
10. the third wheel: a person who feels left out
by a couple or a pair of besties
11. sciamachy: argument
or conflict with an imaginary opponent
Loved story.
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