I laughed

I don’t know why this memory just popped up in my brain.

I’m sitting in one of my favorite coffee shops enjoying an afternoon cuppa.

The song currently playing is “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honeybunch)” by The Four Tops.

There is no reason whatsoever for this memory.

But it’s here.

Years ago—probably more than 20—I was making a pastoral visit to one of my church members in a nursing home. She had suffered a stroke previously that had affected her speech significantly. To tell the truth, I couldn’t make out much of anything she said.

And she said a lot.

I sat next to her bed as she told me completely undecipherable stories. I’m not even sure how many stories she told. I just listened.

But there was one phrase that I could make out. Several times during her monologue a huge smile spread across her face and she said, “I laughed.”

I couldn’t help chuckling every time she said it. It was almost as if I could appreciate and enter into the humor of the story simply because she slurred, “I laughed.”

There’s something wonderfully contagious about laughter that is shared.

Even if you don’t think the content is all that funny you can find yourself doubled over and unable to breathe from laughing so hard—all because someone else started cackling hysterically.

We have a special craziness in our family. It all started before our kids were born. I was reading a book and decided to read a particularly funny passage to my wife out loud. I started snickering and then giggling and then chuckling and then cackling and then gasping for breath while tears streamed down my face.

I’m not sure my Sweetie really thought the book was funny, but she thought I was hilarious. Over the years, I would read funny things out loud to the kids and had the same experience. Things that simply make me smile when I read them silently just absolutely undo me when I read them aloud.

Now that the kids are all grown up and moved away, they will send funny things for me to read out loud and instruct Sweetie to video the reading.

It’s actually kind of pathetic. I don’t mean me; I mean the way my flesh and blood derive pleasure from seeing me totally out of control with laughter!

As I think through this—still without a clue why that memory came to mind—I realize that of all the possible things I could share, I can’t think of many things more productive than laughter.

The world is filled with things that make us angry, sad, disgusted, frustrated, fearful, and a dozen other descriptors.

Those things are easy to share because misery loves company.

How amazing would it be if we were to be as abundantly generous with the things that make us laugh?

What might life be like if our friends and family knew us more for our laughter than for our critiques?

LOL, friends! You might just find yourself in good company.

Be amazing today, my friend.