Welcome to the Commune podcast. This is Jeff Krasno.

How many of you may receive my weekly Sunday commusing article where I address a breadth of issues from the spiritual to the physiological to the sociopolitical.

And on occasion, I will also record an audio version of these articles

and release it here as a bonus episode. So when I was a lackadaisical teenager, I was apt to step on my

own untied shoelaces and stumble. And any time this clumsiness presented itself in front of my father, like clockwork,

he would blurt, have a nice trip. See you next fall. Well, this Sunday is Father's Day. And

dads in participating territories have carte blanche to make cringy jokes with impunity. And my father's joke arsenal was minimal.

However, each cornball quip was deployed with an irritating frequency. Repetition is a trait that appears

to be unique to dads. We value ritual, even when it's not particularly

worthy. Now, as a kid, I vowed never to mimic my father's proclivity for hackneyed witticisms.

But as a dad myself, I now know that your children will never listen to you, but they never fail to imitate you.

The best form of fatherhood may be as an exemplar of a virtuous and diligent life.

It's both touching and humorous watching my brother from another mother, Jake, grab the reins of paternity.

His daughter, Mava, is now 10 months old.

We both now hold the middle as both sons and dads.

So today's episode features Jake and his musing titled My Father's Mantra. I hope you enjoy. And have a nice trip. See you next fall. My Father's Mantras by Jake Loud.

My father's most infamous pun was uttered in a Chinese restaurant.

I won't blame anyone for starting the verbal sparring,

but while waiting for our sizzling rice soup, the conversation devolved into a series of anatomy-based witticisms.

My family's rules for this game are simple. Stay on theme and no repeats.

The beginning is easy. Oh, I just can't stomach that. Are you kidneying me?

We've gotten off on the wrong foot.

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