Morada Musings

I am thankful for humor, for the ability to laugh and appreciate the absurdities of life.  It’s been said that my family members, myself included, have a laugh set on a hair trigger.  Over the years my husband has lovingly teased me about my “runaway giggle”, a phrase he picked up from a favorite comic strip.  Give me any excuse and I’ll run with it!  Life’s too short not to enjoy it at every possible opportunity.

Some of my most favorite memories are of sitting at the dinner table and laughing.  The whole family would be there.  One of my brothers would be doing an impersonation of Bill Cosby, or one of my sisters sharing a story or telling a joke she’d heard.  It wasn’t often me doing the telling, and even less often our eldest sister, but we deeply appreciated them and added to the merriment with our responses.  Sometimes we’d get laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe, let alone finish eating dinner.  Even as we’d begin to get ourselves under control, a sideways glance or whispered words would start us all over again.  (“Was he wearing yella boots?” could still set us to snickering years after our eldest sister told one of her rare jokes.)  We’d giggle or wheeze or snort until my father sternly forbade another sound.  Not that he didn’t enjoy a good laugh, too, but was a staunch advocate of “moderation in all things.”  We never laughed harder than the time my mother accidentally shot him in the face, all the way down the long table, with whipped cream as she struggled to get the cap off and her thumb landed on the nozzle!

After Dad passed suddenly at 42, there was a quiet time as we tried to make sense of our changed world.  But even in the midst of our sorrow, there was always something worthy of a laugh so it wasn’t too long before we started again, and once started, nothing has been able to stop us again.  When Mom passed a few years ago, we sat around that same dining room table – now in my sister’s house – and as we shared our memories, there were as many laughs as tears as we recalled those times and the many others over the years.  Tuesday nights had been bowling night for my mother, sister Deb and, eventually, me as well.   We were grown ups but you’d never know it!  The three of us, and sometimes one of the boys, would start by sharing some amusing anecdote from our day and before we knew it, we’d be gone!  We’d drum our hands on the table, “run” in our chairs, even occasionally one us – usually my mother – would jump up from the table to run to the bathroom!  And more than once the switchboard (Mom ran an answering service in our home) would buzz, and keep buzzing until one of us could stop laughing long enough to at least answer it even if not in a serious voice.  Fortunately for us, our clients and their callers always seemed to appreciate our levity and would ask to be let in on the joke. 

I miss those days but carry their precious treasure in my heart.  I’m grateful for the equilibrium humor has brought into my life, enabling me to laugh easily and often, and at myself as much as anything or anyone else.  If there’s a chuckle or giggle to be found in any situation, I’ll look until I find it.

So, anyone know a good joke?

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