We need to laugh—even when we’re at our worst. We really do. But when you feel like you don’t have much to laugh about, you can forget how good it feels—what a release it can be.
I have my friend Lil to thank for that little revelation. Last week, Lil and I talked on the phone for the first time in a long time. Her simple “so tell me what’s going on” was followed by something like this: Well, we’re changing bandages twice a day and doing intravenous meds once a day. Home health is coming several times a week. We’re getting our roof fixed and some other repairs done on the house, so one day last week, we had nurses in the driveway and men on the roof. I really need to get out to see Mama and Daddy and rent a van for Dave's doctor's appointments . . .
Somewhere in the middle of all that, Lil and I started laughing. Hard. Because things can only get so bad before they get ridiculous—and funny. It’s like that commercial where this little kid is feeling put-upon and finally exclaims, “What am I, Job???!!!”
Or the old Hee-Haw song, “Gloom, despair, and agony on me.”
Or my personal favorite from Steel Magnolias: “My personal tragedy will not interfere with my ability to do good hair.”
I can remember so many times when Daddy’s family would be in a hospital waiting room, worried to death about whoever was sick at the time, and my Uncle Jimmy would have everybody in there—not just our family but everybody, including preachers in attendance and total strangers who happened to be within earshot—all of us laughing. It helped. It got us through.
Dave and I manage to find reasons to laugh—a much more extraordinary feat for him than for me right now. Laughing together immediately brings back “normal.” And when your life has been upended, even for a little while, you cling to every tiny shred of “normal.” It anchors you. It lets you know that you’re still you, and that whatever you’re going through is temporary. It reminds you to be thankful for life and health and for the strength and courage God will give you when you need it most.
[Image by Chance Agrella @ Freerangestock.com]
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