What makes you laugh? I’m talking about the kind of laughter that makes your belly uncontrollably shake, your mouth give off strange sounds, tears roll out of your eyes, boogers run down your face and creates an urgency to urinate. If you can’t remember the last time you did that, maybe it is time to figure out the answer to this question. I remembered the importance of laughter last night while watching old film clips of the Carol Burnett show. I truly believe she was the greatest psychologist of all time. She took dysfunctional family interactions and let us step back and see the hilarity of it all. 

I was blessed with a mom and aunt that had the best sense of humor. Anything would send them off laughing uncontrollably and often inappropriately. So thanks to them, I grew up knowing how to laugh and how to see humor in the people and situations around me. They didn’t take life so seriously when they were together and tried to stay in touch their whole lives. Even after my aunt passed and mom had dementia, mom would tell us she just talked to Aunt Louise. I wonder if they laughed together? 

When I had to deal with my mom’s dementia, it was laughter that saved my sanity. Oh, the stuff she would say and the strange situations we found ourselves in when dealing with elderly parents. One of our favorite stories is when when someone had to take the car keys away from mom before she ran into anything else. After a long discussion with dad and receiving his blessing, my tough-as-nails husband stepped up to the plate and did the deed. When mom found out her keys were gone there was confrontation as explosive as you might imagine. She turned to my dad and said, “Weldon, did you tell him he could take the keys?” And dad quickly replied, “Well, Sweetie, I don’t remember doing that.” And the bus rolled right over my hubby. 

Another story from that same time period is mom convinced dad to take a taxi from their assisted living home to Walmart late one night. The taxi driver took them to a Walmart far away from their home where apparently they wandered around for hours until a manager took notice and called us to come get them. It was a long drive late at night and at the time we were not laughing but later we gleaned laughter by the boatloads in retelling the story. 

Another source of laughter is working with children and parents for a living. There is no greater fun than sitting around with a group of school administrators and teachers swapping stories. I realize now that laughter is a gift of working with people in a position of servitude. It seems to go hand in hand. I believe this is no coincidence and that God must have designed us this way. 

So if your life has been too serious and intense lately, maybe it is time to find that funny-bone and remember what makes you laugh.