A Funny Thing...

Lots of funny things happen in our lives. Not always do they seem funny at the time. Time gives the gift of humor in perspective. A gift...yes.

I still remember – with much deserved embarrassment – the time we had just installed an epoxy coated garage floor. The next day it rained. And having walked the dog and tracking moisture onto the new floor, it was slippery. Later as we went to get in the car for errands, Rocky disappeared from sight! One moment he was there…the next gone! Vanished. I realized he had slipped and fallen flat on the pavement.

I laughed. Hysterically! Like the old slap stick comedies of the 1920’s and ‘30’s. I couldn’t stop. Now…this was not funny to Rocky. Nor should it have been to me. He could have been injured. But no; I laughed uproariously. Slap stick, indeed!

OK. That’s an example of what I mean of a funny thing happening, in this case inappropriately so, but none the same, the funny bone was tickled.

My son visited one day and entered the house laughing. “Hey Dad; remember when you……” He could not complete the sentence because he was laughing so hard. I looked at his lovely bride, she shrugged her shoulders and looked at me quizzically; and then, bit by bit, it spittled out from John between tears of mirth the memory he had that was so funny.

Actually, I hadn’t thought it was funny at the time, but his reaction was priceless. And we all laughed. A great deal, actually.

Life’s like that a lot. Funny now, or back then, the perspective gives the gift of irony, nonsense, weird juxtaposition, or whatever. What was ordered is now a jumble and it becomes hilarious.

You walk into a store and one of the cashiers shouts out her welcome, a laugh, and runs up for a hug! Yes, this happens. At local restaurants, too. Other patrons may gawk, but this is normal in our lives. Why this happens I am not at all sure. But it is a pleasure. And we get good hugs, too! Who can argue about that?

These casual greetings usually come accompanied with jokes, jabs and laughs. And observers get pulled in, too, with even more laughs!

Casual observations to passersby ~ on the day, the weather, or something goofy shared in the moment ~ often bring a polite smile or giggle. And that can bring more laughs!

Now, we live in serious times. Things are not good financially for a lot of people. Cars age and have hiccups or more serious problems; so do homes and their key appliances! Money may not be sufficient to fix each of these issues but we make do, go on with our routine as best we can. And find time to laugh, and things to laugh at.

Often that is our self. Yes, life is serious. But it is also ludicrous. Funny. And that little funny bone juts out just enough to get touched, and makes us giggle. Even guffaw.

Not a bad reaction to adversity.

I think the moral of this story, if this is a story, or even if it has a moral (!) is simply that our humor keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously. And that is a good thing.

I’m just saying……

September 3, 2012