I love to laugh.
Love. Love. Love. With a capital L on every single one!
I don't care if I have more wrinkles than anybody in the entire world when I get older - they will be wrinkles marking how much I laughed during my life!
Let me share a recent time when I laughed – REALLY laughed. And if you don’t want to read it… Well, it’s my blog. Suck it up J
On Saturday night, I hung out with Phill and Leigh. We went to the movies and then headed to Chipotle. We went to the movie super early and we got out at 6:30 (I can't remember the last time I went INTO a movie before 8!)… And I refused to say goodbye to them before 7 PM on a Saturday! So I suggested Chipotle - my default location anytime a question of where to eat is brought up.
We spent about 2 and half hours at Chipotle. Just talking, and sharing, and LAUGHING. Oh my, did we laugh.
I laugh all the time. I laugh when I'm on the phone. I laugh when I'm texting a witty (in my opinion) reply. I laugh when I think of a memory. I laugh when I tell a story. I laugh at work. I laugh at home. I laugh with friends. I'm sure I'd laugh with enemies if I had any! I even laughed when I broke my pinky in Jr. High. And when I got my hand shut in a car door.
It tends to be my default reaction to situations – which I am perfectly okay with!
But man, on Saturday night… I cried. I cried from laughing.
Which I didn't realize until my drive home that night... But I haven't done that in a long time.
I didn't just cry. If you know me.. Then you can imagine this next situation that I'm going to describe rather well…
I started telling a story (for the sake of this post, I'll tell you that it was a story of my dumb, amazing, black dog.. Read more about her here), and the more I told about her... And the closer I got to the climax of the story... And the further ahead in my mind that I got than the words that were coming out of my mouth... The more I couldn't control myself.
First I was laughing. And you'd think I'd learn, but I tried to continue the story through the laughter. Then I started laughing some more, and tears started forming in my eyes. I still tried to continue the story. Then I realized... I couldn't continue. I had surpassed the laughing phase and had reached the uncontrollable, un-hearable (is that the word?) level of laughter. But, apparently I'm stubborn, I still tried to talk and tell the story.
And I got stuck on a line that wasn't even that funny... I think I got stuck on the sentence "and then she had a stroke" (yes, my dog).. But I got stuck between had and a... And it seriously took me about five minutes to get out the words "a stroke"...
Obviously, that is not funny. Yes, my dog had a stroke a few years ago. Yes, her face is crooked. Yes, she looks at you and you can't help but feel sympathy... But I was thinking about the next part of the story...
How my mom took Ali (the dog) to the vet last week and they found out that she has 6 heart murmurs (I know, still not funny)... But the doctor took her into the back room, and brought her out and said "did you know that her nose is crooked?" to which the response was "Um... well, her entire face is crooked, not just the nose"...
Wow. Still not funny.
But, to me, at Chipotle on Saturday night with my best friend and new friend (that I am beginning to think of as a sister)... Telling the story of my poor stroke victim dog was the funniest thing in the world to me.
I once babysat for a munchkin, and while we were playing with his trains, I was laughing at something, and he stopped, looked at me, and commented “I like you, you laugh a lot. Our other baby sitters don’t!” I’m okay with being the laughing babysitter J
I just want to make sure that people know that I'm happy because of Who I live my life for.
One of my favorite verses since I was in high school has been Proverbs 15:13.
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
I have a happy heart, and I am so thankful that God gave me a smile and lots of laughter to show it on my face!