Laugh

Day 45. Laugh.

Some of our best moments in life are when we laugh. It truly is the best medicine. Even when we're sad, when life has beaten us down, when we're at our lowest, someone making us laugh moves us towards healing. When we're scared or lonely, a friend can bring us back to reality with a prank or joke that gets our minds off the situation.

My friends Belinda and Helen have told me for years now that I'm hilarious. I really don't see why they say that, I'm just being me. If anything, I'm probably more smartass than funny. In real life, a lot of the things I say are mistaken for humor, when I'm actually saying how I really feel. Maybe the sign of a good comedienne is that no one takes you seriously?

I really can't help it. You see, I just have these thoughts. My grandpa Krafft was the same way. It seemed he laid awake at night thinking up silly things. I don't spend time doing it consciously, but maybe when my insomnia kicks in that's what I do as well. He was a real nut, made everyone smile and laugh. Red Skelton that never got famous, that was him. He drove my gramma crazy with his antics. I remember listening to her fuss at him for it, and he would play like he couldn't hear her. Then as she'd whirl away in frustration, he'd wink at me. I was destined to be a clown, I carry his genes.

I fulfilled part of my destiny, being voted the female Class Clown our senior year of high school. Fun times. I was always the one getting called to the Principal's office: anything that happened, I just HAD to be involved. I usually was, I just never left a trail to implicate myself. I always had a way to clear myself. Even on days I wasn't in school, my homeroom teachers would get a request to send me to the office. That was proof enough for me I was doing the right thing as a clown.

Laughing at oneself is often the hardest to do, but it happens to all of us. I try not to leave myself open for someone to catch me on something, but it can happen. I work hard to be the one with the witty comeback, the last word. I've had a few people that just sort of look at me like "really?", but most people laugh. I actually worked with someone a few years ago that said she didn't think I was funny at all. I hope I gave her my best "really?" look.

I hope my efforts to make people laugh have made their lives better. That's one of the few things we can do for each other in this life. We can love, we can respect, and we can laugh. I think I've got the first one and the last, I'm still working on the respect. That's earned, not granted, so it's more difficult. Since we're human and fail easily, it's hard to maintain respect.

Lesson Forty Five: Have you had a good laugh recently? Do you try to make others laugh, or does it come naturally? Are you drawn to people with a similar sense of humor? Think about what makes YOU laugh, and find those things more often.

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