"What makes us who we are"

Pattye said to me the other day, "Tom, you really know how to entertain yourself".
It was in response to either something I said or wrote in a blog although I can't even remember what it was about but I guess I was feeling pretty good about it and was laughing to myself.
That's not unusual.....me laughing to myself, or singing out loud or whistling.
My wandering mind is usually somewhere other than where it is supposed to be at any given moment. Is this what is now termed Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (AADD)?
I don't know and really don't care. I have fun with myself and am usually my own best friend.
How did I get this way? Did it start early in life?
Has it evolved from simple growth and maturity and my becoming at peace within ? No, that's not it, because I have been acting this way since I was a little kid.
What is it then?
What makes me laugh and what makes me able to make others laugh?
I guess deep down I'm just a happy kind of guy.
Oh, I get pissed off enough, people around me can attest to that. But, after I vent I am able to just find something new and begin again.
A good friend, Ben Campbell, was the manager of the Jewish Community Center in Dayton, where I worked for several summers during my years in college.
He had the answer to all of life's problems.

"Illegitimis non carborundum" which loosely translated means "Don't let the bastards grind you down".
It is kind of my motto.
Assholes are always going to be assholes. You can't change them. Most of the time you have to live with them. But, you don't have to let them make your life miserable.
You and I both know there are some people who spend their entire life wishing they were somebody else. They are so caught up with their misery that they hate their life. They feel doomed to the life of Sisyphus , a mythological character doomed to rolling a rock up a hill only to have it roll back over him. That poor soul.
I could have solved his dilemma. Either quit pushing the damn rock or get the hell out of the way when it comes back down. Pretty easy huh?
Get rid of your burdens. Find something you enjoy doing and if it doesn't work out, then let it fall to the wayside and find something new.
And most important. Laugh. Laugh all of the time. And sing and whistle. And if you can't do that then hell, just hum. It's good for the soul.