One thing you should know about me is that I did not understand the punchline of that “why did the chicken cross the road?” joke until I was over 25 years old.

And what you also have to keep in mind about me is that this person who didn’t get the punchline of that joke for so many years is the same person who traveled alone in eastern Europe for ages and did nothing but visit museums the entire time. Sang in the choir, ran the mile with a better than average time. Graduated high school with honors, earned two college degrees with a perfectly respectable GPA. Honors studies scholar, teaching assistant, research assistant, completed an independent study which was the closest I ever got to an honors thesis. Didn’t smoke, barely ever drank. Worked my way through college. Earned scholarships. Did not accumulate student loans. Did not break any of the rules, not for years – though my life got easier and less painful when I decided that there were some rules that I could allow myself to break. Stayed pretty healthy, at least physically. Spent most of my time convinced I wasn’t pretty and that therefore I was safe. Enjoyed reading constantly. Tried to be kind, even when I wasn’t.

But I didn’t get the joke. Not for years.

Lord help me.