Laughter is Good Medicine

I've never been the funny one.


I have five siblings and they were always telling jokes when we were younger.  I never got them.


Even that became a joke.


They'd tell a joke then look at me to see how long it would take before I started laughing.  Then they'd hoot, "She finally got it!"  HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!  Now I'm laughing too...but I didn't laugh then!


Even though time and space separates the six of us, we still all connect through group emails and text messages.  Recently one of my siblings went to see Steven Wright perform live.  She emailed one of his jokes to all of us the next day.  This was my reply:


"i didnt' get the joke, but i'm sure that comes as no surprise to anyone.  i'll probably be weeding the garden later, and say, 'oh! now i get it!'"


Only weeding the garden brought no epiphanies.  It took several siblings sending several explanatory emails for me to finally understand.  (At least I think I understand.)


Having said that, I still love a good laugh!  Just keep it simple stupid and we'll have fun all day.  That's why my kids are so good for me.  It doesn't take much to make us laugh, and we do so a lot!  Sometimes we just turn on some music and dance ourselves silly.  Other times we tickle each other.  And, yes, they tickle me too!  Other times we play "Stone Face."  Funny how trying to keep a straight face always makes us laugh.  But most of the time, they can make me laugh without even trying.


Here are a few of the most recent things that have shook some laughter out of me.


The girls were sitting outside at the table while my man and I were running back and forth getting all we needed to sit down and eat.  On one of our trips out the door, my eldest said, "Daddy, I saw three wasps!  There were two boys and one girl.  The boys were fighting over the girl."


Really!  Where did she get that?  My first thought was, "Great!  What else is she learning at preschool?"  So, we asked her, "Where did you learn that boys fight for girls."  Her response:  Bambi.  There's a scene where Bambi is fighting another buck because they want the same doe.  Yep, she learned it in our own house.  (I'm trying to laugh about that.)


But it was my baby girl who made me belly laugh today.  While waiting in the pick-up line at preschool, my little rascal found a used bandage that was all stuck together in her cup holder.  She had just used it for an imaginary boo-boo this morning and decided said boo-boo hurt again and asked me to put the bandage back on.  I said no and explained that we couldn't pull it apart and, even if we did get it apart, it wouldn't stick to her skin anymore.  All her two-year-old mind heard was, "No," which was enough to send her into a tantrum.  She gets her sense of drama from me.  She can make you believe that she has just been abandoned by everyone she loves.  She can turn on the wailing like a faucet and force herself to produce real tears.  But today was different.  Instead of pretending to cry until real tears made their way to the surface, then actually crying until she was gasping for deep breaths (her normal routine), she gave it her best effort for about one minute then apparently decided it was too exhausting.  She abruptly stopped crying, gave a mischievous grin, and asked, "Why's I crying?"  Rotten.  And somehow still insanely sweet.


Hoping you find some laughter in your day!


"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
(Proverbs 17:22)