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Mike and I have had a joke about monkeys for quite some time. I'm not sure how it started, probably because it existed before my time. Mike has always had a thing about monkeys. 

The joke is— everyone loves monkeys.

I know, it's a terrible joke.

But the point is, there is no need to try so hard to please people because a monkey can always do it better.

While Mike and I were dating, whenever I was having a stressed out day at work or feeling somewhat sad, Mike would send me a funny picture of a monkey to cheer me up. It always worked. Probably better than if he called me over the phone to try to talk me down from whatever ledge I was on.

This was before cute kitten gifs. Mike was ahead of his time.

Whenever I was trying hard to come up with an advertising idea at my job, Mike would say, "I don't why you always have to work so hard. Just put a monkey in it!"

Of course, he was right. The most well-liked commercials always contain monkeys, no matter how much the industry makes fun of them.

Remember the CareerBuilder.com Super Bowl commercial with monkeys all working inside an office?

When it aired, everyone in the room roared with laughter, and Mike turned to me and said simply, "SEE???"

We have given each other a monkey themed card for every holiday, birthday, anniversary since we started dating. It makes it easy to find the perfect sentiment. Usually, there is one monkey card available and that's your card. Even if it says, "Happy Birthday to my Favorite Uncle!", you are golden.

I've been trying to find the perfect Father's Day gift for awhile now (and by awhile, I mean, all of yesterday), and then I walked into a card store and saw this:

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In case you can't tell from the picture, its about three feet tall.

It's like whoever made this card is friend's with Mike. Or Mike made the card. (Mike— do you secretly work for Hallmark???)

Anyway, the message is loud an clear: Everyone likes monkeys. Stop trying so hard.

Happy Father's Day, Mike! I'm 100% sure you will like your card!

ps: I'm pretty sure a three foot monkey card qualifies as an entire gift.