Thou Shall Maintain Thy Sense of Humor

"When you've got personality, you don't need the nudity." ~~ Mae West

My dad used to say, "God is like this Great Comedian....only he's playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."  The older I get, the more I understand what he meant.  I think in the seriousness of our lives, we forget that it's okay to laugh at it all....our lives, the crazy situations we get ourselves into and even those not-so-comfortable circumstances we can sometimes find ourselves in.  

It's good and probably healthy to find humor in these life lessons.  Otherwise, what's the point, you know?  Without humor, we might as well go suck our thumb in a corner somewhere while rocking back and forth singing, "Mary Had a Little Lamb!"  We would all go stir-crazy without a little humor every now and then!

I feel like God absolutely humbles me at every turn!  And it is ONLY through laughter that I get over some of the more "humbling" experiences.

Here is just one of MANY examples that I could share with all of you:  
One year I helped my family host a surprise birthday party for my grandmother, Gracie.  We held it in the same town where I went to college.  I was super excited because I knew I'd get to see many of my old friends, as well as my grandmother's friends, whom I had grown especially close to during my college years. 

I talked to old professors, many, many dear friends of hers..... and even a couple of my old college boyfriends who came to wish her well!

I was. set. up. and. feeling. fine that day!  I had on my favorite little white sundress.  I had lost all of my "baby weight" from my second pregnancy by that point, so I was feeling pretty spry. My make-up looked fresh.  My hair actually did what it was supposed to that day....so, as any typical (and somewhat vain woman would tell you) it was, very simply put, a very, very good day!


After it was all over, I went to my mom (while smiling from ear to ear) and said, "Mom! Wasn't this a GREAT party!!"  Mom sort of gasped and calmly said, "Teri, when did you eat spinach?" 


At this point I am feeling hot all over.  I feel myself blushing and I am praying Mom is just pulling my leg. (Oh dear God in Heaven! Please, please, please...not today....not freakin' today!)

I answer slowly to my mom and hesitate before I answer, "Before the party, Mom.  I haven't eaten since everyone arrived.....Why?  Why are you asking me this?"  She starts dieing laughing and points to a nearby mirror.  I go over to the mirror....I  smile a quick fake smile and then.... NOOOOOO!!!! Say it ain't SOOOOO!!!  


It wasn't just a little bitty tiny, maybe-they-saw-it-maybe-they-didn't piece of spinach....it was a HUGE piece of spinach that was quite comfortably nestled in-between my two front teeth and NOBODY told me!! NOBODY!!  In my head, I'm thinking of all of the many people I had carried on conversations with, trying not to miss a soul!  I began hoping that maybe I didn't smile that much.... Maybe I was very calm and serene....no, no, no..of course I smiled...and NOW I know why they smiled so much back to ME!!!!


Why God!! WHY?  Why must I be humbled like this constantly?! 

I then notice Mrs. Williams, (a beloved lifetime friend of my grandmother's and she was actually a teacher to my parents when they were in high school) so we were practically family, right?!  She should have told me, doncha think?! 

So, I march over and say, "Mrs. Williams!  We had a twenty minute conversation and you never told me I had spinach in my teeth!!"  "What the heck?!" 

Mrs. Williams has a southern accent that matches her southern charm....and she answered slowly and methodically in her sweet southern tone, "Why, Ter-ah, I jes simply thought it was decay, Honey. No worries, a'tall!"


NO WORRIES?!  Is she freakin' kidding me! DECAY??  Oh no biggie...she just thought..... No, no, no, no...this isn't happening....I want a do-over.  I want to throw another party so I can smile without spinach in my teeth!! Hahaha!!

In that moment, I wanted to cry, but you know what I did instead?  The only option I had really.... I laughed and laughed and then Dad did what Dad did best...He put a huge, HUGE chunk of spinach spread across all of his teeth, walked by me and smiled. Haha!  I LAUGHED until I cried! Haha!

They say that laughter soothes the soul.  I'll go a step further and say that laughter is actually a cure for grief.  It's so weird, but many times, this is the only coping mechanism I can muster when I find that my life is in utter disarray.  Sure, I might cry about it, sulk about it and even vent about it at first....but eventually the laughter comes.  It just does.  It is that sweet gift from Heaven that tickles the heart and gently soothes the soul.

So laugh!! And Laugh BIG!
...and for Pete's sake....tell your friend if she is sporting spinach in the middle of her teeth! Ha!

Keep Laughing!
Teri