Jilly Brandon

It reverberates off the walls, and echoes inside of your head. When laughter bubbles up as a brooke spills forth clear water, its’ delight is all encompassing.

We recognize our peoples’ laughter and sound, and want to hear it again and again. It is their signature, as uniquely them as a finger print and their DNA.

Original . We each are a priceless original piece of art. The signature is in every part of us. The color of our eyes, hair, and yes laughter. Just try copying the way another giggles. It’s not easy . I would say it’s an impossibility.

Counterfeit laughter can be spotted a mile off. It’s not genuine, and we can feel it to the depths of our bones. It is repellent when it’s fake . We want the genuine letting go of our wits to something that when we are in ” fits of laughter,” we wonder if we shall ever recover. Fo we even want to ?

It’s that good . It takes your breath away, and thus takes away the cares, the worries, the sorrow, the present day horror that is happening in our world.

Why are things funny, when they are not? This makes a situation more hilarious when it is inappropriate to be laughing at it.

Laughing and laughter is a great coping skill. It creates endorphins, and releases serotonin.. I think . it must, because I feel instantly better when I hear someone especially that I care about laughing. The uncontrolled and undisciplined release of the variety of sounds creates smiling.

There is no way to genuinely laugh and then not smile in the aftermath. It is impossible I dare say.

I was pondering the other day as I do upon my walks on trail, the sound of God’s laughter . Would it be throaty and deep, or high and boisterous? I think he likes laughter very much, and enjoys when we laugh, and are able to not take ourselves too seriously . I think he laughs with us at our perceived calamities. He shows us through laughter not to take ourselves too seriously, and that we just need to let go.

The Bible says ” his voice are as many waters,” so perhaps his laughter is in the crashing of waves upon the shore, the song of birds, a volcano erupting, trees swaying in the breeze, the power of thunder ? All of these don’t seem quite right, and yet I have the distinct sense that I would recognize it if I heard it .

I was remembering the death of my daughter this week on September 27th, it was seven years ago . Impossible as it seems, I have been separated from her for that long. Such a whirlwind of events have followed. If I hadn’t been able to laugh, I would not have survived this long. I know this for certain .

I was on Facebook and there it was. A video I have heard many times before, and yet I never grow tired of pressing play and hearing it again . It’s is of my daughter laughing. The nuances of her giggling over the fact that she might have broken something always put her into manically laughing. Always. Her little chest heaves, and shakes, and it’s as if the sound she is making surprises her at every turn, and might scare her, and yet she just can’t help herself. It’s funny. No planning, no control , it’s natural, and wonderful .

When something is funny. It’s just spontaneously that way . We can’t help ourselves. Bianca found farting funny, but then who doesn’t?

My son Logan bought her a fart gun, yes a gun that made farting noises. It was from the Disney movie, ” Despicable Me,” should you care to purchase one. I highly recommend it. At first Bianca laughed, but I think she then found it predictable . Nothing was as good as the genuine article . If you accidentally passed gassed in her room, her laughter was instant . Did you ever wonder why those noises were so funny? I have some thoughts on this subject.

Could it be that the reverberation of a fart is akin to laughter? Both are rather spontaneous, and while you might plan for it to be quiet, when it just isn’t, it’s well.. hilarious.

Don’t get me started on laughter during church or at a funeral . It’s always funnier when it is not permitted or sanctioned to be funny . I believe that I have mentioned this before, but there are those of you out there, and you know who you are, that I simply cannot sit beside if there is something serious afoot. Keeping a straight face and wanting to be respectable flies straight out the window when your friend whispers in your ear something she/ he should not have . Don’t even get me started about the ” loud whisperer.” You know that person whose supposed whisper is louder than their normal voice. What’s up with that ? That is funny too, because they are just not aware.. how, I know not? Perhaps we should teach whispering in school, and cursive writing while we are at it.

We have all had these experiences, and generally they are some of the most memorable .

It is a fear when your loved one passes away from your presence that you will forget their voice. Forgetting their laughter is an equally terrifying thought. It is not unusual to keep their voices on the answering machine, or keep rewatching a saved video. It is tremendously comforting, but also so lonely to not be able to share in their current state of funniness, and of just being.

I think of those kids during my school years who were considered ” the class clowns.” They were constantly getting in trouble for their snickers, and perceived trouble making attributes. We liked these kids, we revered them . They were the brave voyagers who knew that if they could make others’ laugh, their pain would be diminished.

Without laughter what a stoic environment we would live in. The funniest comedians in my opinion, are those that that can laugh at themselves. They just illuminate the hysterics of every day sitcom situations and allow us to see the humor where we possibly did not before .

The phrase, “dying of laughter” doesn’t seem like a bad way to go . I suppose you would laugh so hard you could no longer breathe, and you would just ” fall over from laughing.” Sign me up .

I hope you laugh today .