Sometimes things are just ‘smile’ funny. Some are worth a short giggle or two. But then there are the things that you just know are going to have you laughing yourself to sleep every now and again for the rest of your life. The kind of things that when they first occur, make you laugh so hard your ribs ache. And your throat, eyes, and face too. Because whatever it was just happened to be that funny.
Or at least it seemed so at the time.
Like the night my sister swore she knew how bad my brakes were. What can I say? I was a really stupid twenty year old. Not only for allowing the pads to completely wear away but for allowing her talk me into letting her drive while we ran an errand for our dad.
As she was going up and over the raised sidewalk at the store, barely missing the doors and an elderly couple (thank you, God, that she didn’t hit them!), I heard her panicked voice say, “Kristy! Kristy! The brakes! The brakes!” And she sounded just like Tattoo from Fantasy Island.
When something scares me – and strikes me funny at the same time – I’ve been known to laugh uncontrollably. That was one of those times. I laughed while we were apologizing to the manager for crumpling his trash can. And I laughed while we sat at KFC for an hour because we were both too scared to get out on the road in the car again. (Yes, I got my brakes replaced after that. Nearly hitting that couple was enough to convince me it was long overdo.)
Yesterday, my daughter, Aria, and I spent some time visiting my mother. Aria loves her ‘Gigi’ (short for Great Grandma – or GG) and she loves to check everything out at her apartment. During this particular visit, she seemed bent on yanking a pretty doily out from under a candy dish. When the three of us almost simultaneously told her no, she finally walked away from the coffee table.
I suggested she fix the doily, which she tried to do. Hey, she’s three. Wrinkles don’t really register. But something registered after Mom teased her and said now she wouldn’t have to “paddle her butt.” I’m guessing it was the word ‘butt.’ (Don’t worry, no one has ever paddled Aria, especially not my mom)
About two seconds later, Aria walked behind her and – without any warning at all – lifted the back of her dress up. The look of stunned surprise on Mom’s face was priceless. I swear I never knew she could move that fast but she managed to keep the hemline down to a non-embarrassing level.
I laughed so hard my entire face hurt. My eyes hurt. My throat hurt. My ribs hurt. And Mom pointed out that my my face was looking pretty red. Well, yeah. I expect it was. I don’t think it’s possible to laugh like that and not turn red.
I’m sure the same thing happened just now while typing this because I’ve been laughing like a loon since the moment I started telling you about near mooning.
And you know what? It felt good. Yesterday. Just now. And the probably dozen times in between.
Everyone needs to laugh like that sometimes. Or often.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
