Uncontrolled Laughter

Oh my goodness….. I just laughed so hard that my whole lower abdominal area is sore!!!  Have you ever done that?

There are too few times that I laugh that hard and can’t control myself.  Unfortunately, it usually happens at church.  I’m not proud of this fact; and when I meet God I will likely ask him what is so enticing about laughing when you aren’t supposed to.  But until then I will do my best to maintain my composure…….

But sadly, it comes at the most inopportune times……

Many years ago (before marriage before children) a friends mother passed away.  It was very sad for my friend, but as I remembered, she didn’t get along with her mom.  And as I didn’t know her mother, I was simply there to support my friend.  So when we walked into the church we sat in the back.  It was me, my friend Kim (we should never sit together in church) my friend Tonia and Tonia’s mom.

As the service went on, everyone talked about what a loving kind woman this was….

Now, let me just say that I don’t feel funerals are always an honest depiction of who people really were.  Because I have been to funerals of some really crabby nasty people and all that is ever said about them after they pass is how great they were.  So I tend to listen with a grain of salt….

I’m not trying to be insensitive, but as I sat in the service for my friends mom, I was trying to put the pieces together of this woman that my friend didn’t totally get along with, and the woman they were all talking about.  So my mind was wandering to begin with.  And the service played on and on and on….

It played on so much that the little white haired lady in front of us started nodding off and lo and behold, started tipping over as if to fall onto the church pew into a lazy afternoon nap.

At this time, my friend Kim (who’s not much bigger than a peanut) decides she was going to ‘catch’ this lady in front of us.  Only, in my mind at that time I started doing the calculations  of how this could be done without disturbing the rest of the service.  My eyes got big as I watched Kim’s hands gesture towards this woman, and at the very second Kim looked like she was gonna go for it, the lady snapped out of it and woke back up………

And that’s all it took….. I burst into laughter, completely forgetting where I was or why I was there and as I tried to stop myself from laughing, I was doing my best to plot my escape.  Only I was wedged in the corner of the pew with no escape but to pass over my friend Tonia and her mother and the only problem with that was if I took my hands off my face; those around me would  know I was laughing instead of crying (which I was doing my absolute best to disguise myself).

I’m shaking my head and rolling my eyes at myself as I write, but the bottom line is there is nothing you can do with my mind when it gets quiet.

If you follow my blog at all, you know I’m always in my head making up stories to sounds and filling in the blanks with make believe stories to pass the time.  It should be no surprise that I can’t control myself in a funeral…..

And the history between Kim and I?  Let’s just say there aren’t very many serious moments.  This was a recipe for disaster from the get go….She was laughing just as hard as me.

My friend Tonia was onto us.  She looked over with complete disgust.  She knew we were a lost cause and didn’t bother to yell at us in the service.  And when Tonia’s mother leaned over and asked, “Are they okay?”  Tonia simply stated without flinching…”They’re fine”.  I’m guessing (or rather hoping) that her mother bought into our “sob” story and didn’t realize the truth!  (God is good).

After the service, Tonia fired us from the “support” club.  Kim and I bowed our heads.  Sad for our inability to control ourselves – but maybe also a little grateful.  We aren’t old enough to control ourselves yet.

I tell you this not because I’m proud of it.  But because I can’t be trusted.  I burst out into random acts all the time and I don’t know why.

One morning I was at home and one of the carpool kids came up to our house to wait with Aspen for carpool.  She did this every morning.  And when she got to the door, she would ring the doorbell.   One morning as she walked up to the door, I screamed from inside the house, “DON’T RING THE DOORBELL!!!!!”  She stood there and paused, not knowing what to do.  Then very lightly she knocked on the door.   In a completely improved moment, Aspen opened the door so only her face would poke through she simply said, “Shhhhhh” and shut the door on her friends face.

We burst out laughing so hard!!!

I honestly don’t know where it comes from and I don’t know how to stop it, so please don’t ask me.
Just be warned that I’m not always appropriate and I can’t always control myself.  So if you can’t deal with it; just be prepared to forgive me a bunch of times.  I YAM who I YAM…….