Laughs Just Keep Coming: Part 1

I have some special memories that I haven't retrieved for a while- until yesterday. My son fell off a short stool onto the floor. That in itself isn't that amusing but the fact I saw him one second and I looked away and caught just the tail end of him disappearing from view in the next second just makes me chuckle. He bumped his chin on the way down so I did pick him up (He' s five.) and comfort him (I'm not completely callous.) but not without a concerted effort to not laugh. I finally asked him if I could laugh. He gave me the evil eye. But when I explained, unabashedly howling, WHY it was funny even he giggled. This wasn't the first time he's gone down and I found myself restraining prolonged laughter remembering...

We were at the grocery store, in the cereal aisle, and Jacob was hanging on the side of the cart. I don't know if he just lost his grip and footing at the same time but he did a 360 and fell out of sight. It was bad enough that I saw it but an elderly lady came by, asked if he was OK and SHE chuckled about how he went down so quickly. He has this, almost ballet-ic, grace when he stumbles. --Oh, I still laugh when I consider these "now you see hims, now you don't." These memories were playing in my head when I went to bed last night. Instead of sleeping I was trying to remember some other situations that STILL make me laugh.

The first one that came to mind happened a LONG time ago (late 70s/early 80s?), in church. Father Weible. By all accounts Father was a very nice man but a bit challenged by personal hygiene practices. We were up close and personal with Father this Saturday night since my mother always claimed the third seat from the front for her family. So there we were right under Father Weible's nose as he prepared to begin his sermon. He took his glasses out of his pocket, unfolded them and positioned them on his face. He did this carefully because HIS GLASSES ONLY HAD ONE LEG!!!!!! Now when you are 12, or so, this is majorly funny. Because glasses then were made out of glass and heavy so they tilted to one side. He wouldn't adjust them, either. They just remained cock-eyed. And because you are supposed to be quiet in church all conditions were met for severe cramping from holding in laughter. I still have some pretty good laughs about this so keeping them contained back then must have required an abdominal workout. I remember ducking down frequently, like we'd dropped something, to mask snickers. I think Father has passed on but he'll never be forgotten.

I laughed about this when I recalled it last night, now it only makes me smile: It's easy to get the giggles at church because, well, you're not supposed to do it! I remember we were sitting behind a family with some small children and small children like to check out the congregation behind them when they're at church. So while we were kneeling, this little boy turns completely around to face us and I look down at his feet and he has these enormous rubber galoshes (remember this would be the 70s) ON THE WRONG FEET! The fact that this kid was so small and the boots were so big and OBVIOUSLY on the wrong feet made it just hilarious. Luckily, when you're kneeling it's easy to hide you face in your hands. But unlike the glasses in the story above which were stashed back in Father's pocket I had to look at those boots for the rest of Mass!

I've changed my mind, I still laugh out loud about that one, too. Here's another gut-buster I still remember so perfectly...

I worked at a Holiday Inn as a restaurant hostess in the late 80s. From my desk I could see down the hall past the bar entrance to the restrooms. One slow evening I was straightening the items on my desk when I heard some noise down the hall and I peered toward the restroom when I saw a woman come out with the bottom of her skirt shoved in the waistband of her hose!!! I started to run down the hall to tell her but halfway there I collapsed into giggles and couldn't stop. I didn't want to embarrass her. In fact my mission had originally been to try and SPARE her embarrassment. I remember going directly into the kitchen to share this vision. No one could understand what I was saying because I was laughing so hard. I finally made myself understood but not before half the kitchen was in hysterics. It's funny how contagious hilarity is.

Oh, how good intentions go out the door when a psycho sense of humor strikes.

This seems awfully long so I'm going to have to do this in installments. Then if my mind starts to fail me, even more so than it is, I'll have a record of the things that made me laugh.

Hormonally yours,
Peg