Monday, February 29, 2016

Making Me Laugh

Having seen the show Old Hats, featuring actors/clowns Bill Irwin and David Shiner and musician Shaina Taub and her band, today, I have come to the conclusion that I don't laugh nearly enough.
 

Don't get me wrong--there are times when my kids crack me up. There are times when a Facebook post just tickles me. On a day-to-day basis, however, everything just seems to become so important, and our need to accomplish and succeed so in our faces, that our earnestness tends to take over our sense of humor. Food spilled on the table is less a pratfall, and more a mess that will need to be cleaned. A child parading around half-dressed after a shower is wasting time rather than creating entertainment. Even job ads, whose requirements and compensation are unrealistic enough to be chuckle-worthy instead elicit stress rather than laughter.
 

Today, for two hours, I laughed at the ridiculous--physical gags, silent (and not so silent) comments on our world, and just general clowning around. I came out of the theater humming a little, with just a little more spring in my step. It didn't last--before long, I was back to the intensity of homework to do, and dinner to prepare, and routines to enforce. But for those two hours, plus a little, I was reminded how good it feels to laugh. So good that maybe, just maybe, I will start building a more of that into my days.

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