Things That Make Me Laugh

One of the (many) things I love about my husband Dave is that he always seems to know when it’s a good idea to try to make me laugh my way out of a dark moment. When I’m upset for real, he’s compassionate and supportive. But those times when I’m having a momentary pout, he’s really good at finding a way to lighten the load.

Example 1: Chinese New Year, San Francisco, circa early ’90s

We were a new-ish couple and we were on a date to go to the Chinese New Year parade. I’m not sure why we thought we’d be able to drive into Chinatown and park on a holiday occasion like that one—the fog of new love, perhaps?—but we were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic with no hope of getting anywhere near a parade spot in time for the festivities. I was in the driver’s seat, my disappointment and frustration filling the car like an angry fog. Dave was in the passenger seat, doing…. something with a discarded newspaper that was lying on the floor.

A few minutes later I found out what he was up t0: He’d torn photos from the paper and was making them dance and march across the dashboard in a mini parade while he hummed an appropriate tune. I stopped frowning, we bailed on the parade, and did some serious damage to a pile of food at an awesome Chinese restaurant.

These past few days have been a little tense. We’re flying to Prague two weeks from today (!), and Monday is when we take our boxes for shipping to Boston. That means there are currently four suitcases packed with the stuff we’re physically carrying to Prague, stacks of boxes to take to the shipper, boxes filled with goodies for donation, a box of things we’re selling on eBay, and furniture that’s promised to people who’ve yet to haul it away. Living with this level of disorganization is extremely challenging for me, and I’m doing my best to roll with it. And Dave is making me laugh a lot.

At yoga this morning, our fantastic teacher talked about how laughter is “the manifestation of hope.” Then we did a breathing exercise that pumped our diaphragms just like a good belly laugh… which got me thinking about Internet things that make me laugh since Dave can’t come to your house today.

This Cat

This Cauliflower Joke

This Pratfall

This Otter

Your turn… share what makes you laugh in the comments!