How so?
Sometimes, everyone in a room will be silent, but you and I will be laughing. There was a time that we were at Bryn Mawr [The Birthing Center] and we were watching a video. Everyone was silent during this one part but you and I were just laughing.
Subtle.
Weird.
Ironic things that we sometimes laugh at.
I don't know how to phrase it, but it's just life's ironies... I don't know...
This is a question that I punted to my wife tonight to answer. The
italicized are her responses.
I really think I laugh at a lot of the same things others do... but I think that there has been a transformation at what I laugh at and why I laugh. I remember sitting in an English class in MiddleSchool... we all had to read an essay we had written. I think my essay was on disassembling and then reassembling a lawn mower engine (it was something I had recent experience in and a task that is uniquely dull and tedious). When it was my turn to read, I remember standing.
And then I laughed.
I laughed uncontrollably.
I laughed because I was unbearably nervous.
The teacher told me I could sit back down.
That nervous laugh left me over time. I can actually stand up and say nearly anything in a crowd (sometimes).
What my wife was getting at though is that there are still a lot of instances where I will laugh and no one will know why (sometimes she doesn't understand either). My imagination runs when I see or hear things and often it creates a context that might or might not exist.
So... I laugh at possibilities of humor.
I laugh at the things in life that a lot of people think of as normal.
Normal is funny to me because I'm usually thinking about the things that lead up to the event, or maybe what might follow. Sometimes I'm thinking about something totally unrelated to the people I am talking to because of something else that happened somewhere else with someone else that happens to be very similar to what is happening with the people I am talking with.
I've been told more than once that this makes other people nervous.
I love to laugh though. I laugh at a lot of things. Laughing means that I'm not hurting and (hopefully) the people I am with aren't hurting. Laughter makes me think that God has a sense of humor even as all of use are created in His image (I laugh at things that happen in the Bible to0 - some of it is ridiculous while still miraculous - when was the last time you were spoken to out of someone's ass; it really happened per the Old Testament! Check it out here in several translations.) Laughing is a stark reminder that even though my soul is broken, there is hope in a world where Jesus promises that one day there will be peace and wholeness.
I like to laugh until I cry. I like to laugh with other people. I am pretty simple to please and will often and admittedly laugh at very crude things.
Laughing is proof of my humanity even while I will act sub-human.
Here are some other things that make me laugh. Hopefully this non-exhaustive list will help you to laugh too:
- Failblog
- Failbook
- Schmoyoho
- Dumb and Dumber
- Napoleon
- Mullets
- Arrested Development
- Coco
- David Sedaris
- WireTap
- some episodes of TAL
- Mike Judge
- And on, and on...
I laugh a lot.
4 comments:
Makes me think about how through the years Aaron and I have developed this habit of critiquing each others jokes. It has really helped us by increasing our ability to deliver a punchline. I also find it funny and comforting, that we will sometimes go for the same punchline if we are listening to someone else.
La Garrett (don't know if I should use your name or not...), that's a great example of how marriage changes you and makes you better;-).
Yes, you can use my name!
Hahaha! I love to laugh too. Thanks for a great post!
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