A friend of mine sent me this picture she took of me on Wednesday. It was a moment that caught me by surprise. We were celebrating my husband Mickey’s 69th birthday. He threw his own party. That’s one of the things that makes him happy—bringing people together to eat and laugh. Some of our guests, who were sitting around the fire pit, spontaneously began to sing the song Have You Ever Seen the Rain. I thought it was so funny that they sang that song. I wrote about this song a while back in the post The Same Old Song. Hearing them sing it was a precious gift. I took a short video with my phone, but all you can hear is me laughing.
I have my dad’s laugh. It’s loud and boisterous. It “cuts across the room,” as I wrote in the song Perfect Strangers. I also know because my kids told me. Once my son came into a restaurant and said, “Mom, I can hear you laughing outside.”
I recently read that the average 4-year-old laughs 300 times a day. I believe it. I saw proof of this when I got a video from my two grandsons wishing me a happy Mother’s Day. Sure enough, the four-year-old giggled right after he blew a kiss. It made me smile.
The book went on to say, that the average adult laughs less than fifteen times a day. I think that I probably laugh more than that, but it certainly made me think about how often I take myself and life way too seriously.
“Laughter opens your heart and soothes your soul” The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.
Life is funny, and laughter is…, you know, good medicine. My niece just bought her son a fart gun. I guarantee they will get miles of laughter out of that inexpensive toy. I’ll never forget the time my niece Callie, sat on a whoopee cushion her brother had strategically placed on the couch. She laughed so hard, and then we all started laughing with her. Laughter is contagious.
Sometimes I laugh at other people’s expense. I don’t mean to, but it just takes over. Trying not to laugh only makes it worse. Like the time my husband ran into an open cabinet door. Or when my sister came out of the restroom at Costco with toilet paper hanging out of her jeans. I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t even get the words out to tell her. Thirty years later, it still brings tears to my eyes.
My dog Dennis makes me laugh all the time. Yesterday he jumped off the chair and got stuck in a momentary handstand trying to get a treat on the floor.
Life is funny.
Laughter is contagious.
I want to laugh like a four-year-old.
I Wanna Laugh by Trisha Leone Two rows in front of me, a couple kids are giggling Their faces turning red they just can’t hold it in And I can’t see what it is that makes them laugh But I know one thing it’s contagious And I want some of that I wanna laugh like that again So hard that I just can’t hold it in Doubled over falling onto the floor Take me back I wanna laugh Like that again My sense of humor got distracted long ago By obligations and sticky notes across my wall And I’ve been missing what it is I love the most The sound of laughter, the kind that vibrates to my soul I wanna laugh like that again So hard that I just can’t hold it in Doubled over falling onto the floor Take me back I wanna laugh Like that again I wanna laugh til the tears start to fall Til my side aches and I can’t speak a word at all I know this might sound a little desperate But do you think my feet are still ticklish? I wanna laugh like that again So hard that I just can’t hold it in Doubled over falling onto the floor Take me back I wanna laugh Like that again Listen to the song below or on Bandcamp