A man went to a counsellor in a state of agitation.
"I've realised in the last few days that I've never loved anybody", he says. "I feel like I'm incapable of love."
"OK, well, let's break this down", says the counsellor. "Tell me about your parents."
"I had the best parents in the world. Loving, supportive, concerned...but I never loved them!"
"Well then", said the counsellor, "are you married?"
"I have a beautiful, caring, devoted wife. But I don't love her!"
"What about children?"
"Two beautiful daughters, everything a father could ask for...but I don't love them either!".
The counsellor extends her sobbing client a tissue and says, "I see. Now, I want you to think very carefully and tell me...is there really and truly nobody in your life that you've ever loved?"
The guy sobs, looks rather embarrased, and says: "It's a bit odd, but my wife's mother. I guess I love my wife's mother."
"I see. Anybody else?"
"My wife's sister. I know it sounds bizarre, but I'm fairly sure I love my wife's sister."
The counsellor smiles and says: "You see then, it's not so bad, after all!"
"How on earth can you say that?"
"Have you never heard? 'Tis better to have loved in-laws than never to have loved at all!".
don't quite get it but glad you're joking.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pun on a line from Tennyson: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
DeleteOhhhh that is wonderfully awful. So far I have refrained from retelling it. So far.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's a tricky one to tell. Be careful to emphasise the man's embarrassment towards the end, or find some other misdirection to stop people noticing you've avoided saying "in law"!
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