Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Best Medicine

Yesterday Ellen did a monologue about laughing (which included several demonstrations that were spot on) and it reminded me of how much I LOVE to laugh.

I come from a family of loud laughers so I was doomed from the start. My mother has a very recognizable laugh and once she gets going it's hard to put on the brakes. I love it.

Others may disagree, but I feel like my laugh is fairly normal most of the time. It's only when something catches me off guard or is extra funny that I pull out the big guns. It usually starts out silent, a gush of air with no sound behind it, and then an explosion of sound often accompanied by a wide open mouth and thrown back head. I can't tell you how many times I've hit my head on the wall, back of the couch, back of a chair, etc. because I've thrown my head back in laughter. I can't control the head movements or the volume. It just comes out and I kind of like it.

I also have a tendency to laugh even when something isn't funny. I didn't realize I did this until late one summer night in Michigan, between semesters at BYU, I was sitting in my living room with three friends from high school. Josh was asleep on the couch and Brandi and Jenny and I were chatting away about nothing. Brandi made a joke about the way Josh was sleeping, comparing it to something that I don't really remember (I know that doesn't help the story much) and I laughed. Here's the conversation that followed:

Jen: No, that's not how it would look if he were ____(Fill in the blank with whatever you'd like.)
Brandi: Well, not exactly...but kind of.
J: No, not at all.
(Tension in the room is rising and voices grow louder.)
B: It doesn't matter - it was a joke.
J: Well, it wasn't funny!
(Now they're full on yelling.)
B: Stephanie thought it was funny.
J: Stephanie laughs at everything!

She may be right, but I think we could all use a little more laughter.

2 comments:

Annie said...

laughing is great! That is how I felt when I saw the fart study I sent you. I was laughing so hard, it made me feel better.

Anonymous said...

a good laugh does help. i am the same way steph. i have a real laugh and a "fake" laugh. it isn't really fake, but when someone says something and it's not funny, i don't want them to feel stupid. so i always do a little laugh so they know i heard them and i know they were being funny. but does this happen to me? no. people are usually silent or think i am serious and i feel dumb. so i make sure no one else feels that way. :)

i love brian's laugh! it was the first thing i noticed while falling in love with him. :)