Earlier this week I was playing a favorite joke on a new friend.

I told him I was having a tough week and that on Thursday, my wife was leaving me.
Oh, the look on his face! He didn’t know how to respond.
And then, my older friend, in years of friendship not age, told him, after also seeing the look on his face, “No, don’t worry, JT does this all the time. Every time Miechelle leaves on a trip he says that. JT just doesn’t like to be alone. He’s needy.”

My joke got hijacked, crashed and burned. It is true I don’t like being alone. My brother said it’s because I like to let others enjoy my company. But needy? No.

I had never heard that said about me. So when I returned home from my trip I asked my bride, my beautiful bride.
She just nodded her head. “You are.”

No I’m not.

I told my mom and my brother.
I didn’t get quite the support I’d expected.
I remembered in my Catholic grade school being asked to pray for the poor and the “needy.”
My brother says “Well at least you have people praying for you.”
My mom just laughed.

I’m not needy.

I may not like to be alone but that’s different.
And maybe I like things done a certain way but I really don’t think I care to make an issue of it. Why I even laugh at all my Type A friends especially because I’m not like them.

This neediness talk led me to tell my audience (still my mom and brother) that maybe “we” don’t always know how “we” really are to others.
A profound thought given the circumstances and that I was still in shock.

Needy?

I don’t complain much I told them, (my brother raised an eyebrow, I think it’s a tic, Mom’s still laughing) but on my recent trip some coworkers mentioned something else about me. Their impression that I also complain.

I don’t complain.
Their wrong. I’m laid back.

As proof, I have told them repeatedly I don’t care what restaurant we go to, I’ll find something on any menu. I try to be a go along.
We’ve had previous coworkers that always liked to determine food and restaurant choices. That’s not me.

I do admit that I don’t like to eat at chain restaurants. Not that they’re bad, it’s just when we are traveling I think it’s nice to try local restaurants. As I said, I’m really not particular about types of food. Other than Italian food. I can eat it everyday. But apart from that, makes no difference to me.

We once went to a seafood restaurant and because I had just finished Lent – no meat on Fridays, ate plenty of seafood – I decided I would go along with the group choice of restaurant, but I ordered a cajun chicken meal. It was fine too – except it wasn’t really spicy. And the chicken wasn’t particularly tasty. Or warm.

I didn’t finish it.
And I didn’t complain. To be honest, whenever I would say anything about the meal, I was simply being funny talking about it.
That isn’t complaining.

And I had forgotten all about it. Until my new friend above mentioned that he remembered what I had ordered at that seafood restaurant over a month ago. Why would he remember what I ate because I sure didn’t.

He said it was easy.
He said I had complained about the meal for several days straight.
I don’t remember.
And if I did talk about it, I was just trying to be funny anyways.

My godson once asked me why my group of friends always went to the same restaurant for breakfast before our golf play days.
I told him Darrell had to eat at the same restaurant – always. It didn’t matter to me because I could care less where we eat.
So my godson decided to ask Darrell why he insisted on the same place. He said the answer was priceless.

I don’t remember it. It may, or may not, have been tied back to me. It’s not important.

At any rate, I have come to this conclusion.
I think other people are really 3 individuals in one body. The person others think you are; the person you think you are, and; the person you really are. 3 in 1. This only applied to other people. Not me.

After all this needy and complaining chatter this week, well…maybe I am like that, too…

Hah, no I’m not..

Note to my coworkers: Our next trip, no chain restaurants. Other than that, I really don’t care where we eat. Really, I don’t.
And for the record, I’m not needy either.

JT

I don’t need anything…except maybe this.

Check the video – all time classic