Funny.
I thank it for being the weapon to my survival.
It’s one of my best qualities. I think it raises the point level on my chick-o-meter. Otherwise I’d probably just be average. But the thing is I’m not hilarious-stand up comedy type of funny. I’m more of a situational humorist — the kind that finds funny or at least tries to find the funny in disastrous, hopeless, ridiculous situations.
🙂
I mean when you’re the only person in the Lamaze class that states with absolutely certainty that you’re gonna get the drugs as soon as you walk through the hospital doors, but when the time comes you realize that your particular labor is quick and by the time you arrive apparently you are at the point of no return.
No drugs.
You have to find the humor in that, maybe not at that instance but shortly thereafter when you’re cursing up a storm in a catholic hospital, that’s got to be a ha-ha moment.
When you’re sitting in your shrink’s office and she says:
“Sorry I don’t think this is working out.”
Dude. You realize that she just gave you the it’s-not-you-it’s-me speech. How do you go about dealing with the fact that your shrink broke up with you? I mean who does that happen to?
Me.
It happens to people like me. So instead of drowning in sorrows thinking I’m beyond help, or jumping off a bridge, I write a short story about it and try to find the humor in being dumped by a therapist. Ha-ha moment indeed.
Perhaps the ha-ha’s extend to situations beyond just me, where I can find funny in uncomfortable situations that I unknowingly ignited. Just like the time where I got a new job and had been working there for about six months before I met a guy who I thought was great. Super cool. I thought he was so great that I set him up with my old high-school friend. I was proud to have been a successful matchmaker, only to accidentally realize that the reason he’d been off from work for a week was because he was on his honeymoon. Yeah, after the shock wore off I found my matchmaking skills to be quite humorous.
Even in the face of death, I found a ha-ha moment. And I really shouldn’t have. Facing near death should really scare the crap out of you, but I found that almost choking to death on a Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt topping and then peeing on myself in public while I was trying to cough my way back to life might have been pretty amusing. Or perhaps macing myself in the middle of the night on a dark street on the way back from the library during my college days would have required a little ha-ha in order to get passed the stupidity of it all.
Did I mention I’m a mom? Yeah.
Mother of two.
You need humor to get you through the day. Parenting, although joyous, stresses you out. You get to know the word weary. I never knew weary until I was a parent, so humor helps me get through parenthood, as does chocolate and a nice glass of Framboise.
Yes.
Funny does play an important role in my life. I find that humor is the compass that keeps me grounded. It’s my Wish Factor … The Wish Factor. The X Factor. It’s that thing that keeps me from falling apart sometimes. It’s the thing that helps withstand the George Costanza phase of my current existence. It’s the thing that makes life less crappy, because on any given day you never know what funny can do. Funny is the thing. It makes survival possible. It makes life more enjoyable. That’s what funny does for me.
But aside from making myself laugh, who is the funniest person I know?
My college comadres crack me up. It’s a cohesive effort where everyone feeds off each other and the laughter abounds. A day with them ends up being good for my soul.
The funniest person on TV that cracks me up?
I’ve got many, but Jason Bateman, Jimmy Fallon, Louis C.K., Jerry Seinfeld, and Melissa McCarthy seem to rock my boat whenever it’s enduring a perfect storm.
Yup. Funny … It’s my compass.
The Wish Factor 
Great article and outlook; I share it too. On my 17th birthday, I almost choked to death on a Cap’n Crunchberry. If my father hadn’t been home, I would have died. Can you imagine the embarrassment of dying like that? You can. Followed for being a great writer! 🙂
Choking to death on a Cap’n Crunchberry would have been the wrong way to go. Definitely. I so get you on that one. And I’m so glad you enjoyed the piece. Thanks for the props, see you again.
I knew you would understand! You are now followed, so I’m sure we’ll see each other on here again 🙂
Stopped by from Susie’s. Love that you mentioned George, your shirk and pink berry ante dotes def brought him to mind for me. Ya gotta learn to laugh at yourself, I try to teach my school kids that all the time. Priceless life skill!
Ahhhhh….George. He’s definitely given me the power of laughter 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Susie’s parties are always cool.
Hilarious! We are cut from the same cloth. Without humor life would be a DUD!!!
Thanks for bringing this to the party! I am still working my way through the links. Hope you have fun clicking a few new blogger’s posts!
Hello. Just been to Susie Landau’s blog and she has sent me this way. I LOVED your post about humour (sorry spelt like that in Oz), and how it can can be therapeutic to laugh at yourself. Funny, (ha ha) I just wrote a post about humour myself.
Thanks Susie always introduces me to some good people, you know the kind that share my vision of trying to laugh things out or finding the funny. It’s the only way to avoid more gray hair. 🙂 Since we both like to turn to humor during tough times I’ll have to check out your post 🙂
Thanks! I figured you and I were simpatico comedy buds. We need to laugh when stuff like that happens. And yes I did have a good time mingling at your shindig. Caught a couple good posts from people I’d never met. So thanks for that. 🙂