100 things part 55--being funny

It's cold outside y'all! So let's have a little humor to warm us up shall we?

I adore comedy. It's like the best medicine in the whole world. You find that movie that makes you giggle and turn it on. It's like a whole new world. Your kid does something that just makes you laugh so hard--it's like nothing bad ever happened. Comedy is food for the sad soul.

I like to think I've always had a humorous streak. I think that's what happens to the kids who can survive being picked on--well, one of the things. If they survive being bullied they either become bullies or they learn to laugh about it. I don't ever want to become a bully. So I choose to laugh about it all.

When I was little, I was ridiculed for my fat belly and my four-eyes: typical stuff to pick on kids about back then. I was called a large number of names--fatty, four-eyes, nerd, oh and my favorite Mickey Pig. Mickey Pig was because I talked like Mickey Mouse and looked like Porky Pig. Sometimes the kids would change it up and call me Porky Mouse. I have to give it to them for the originality. That slowed down after middle school. Because of course in high school it was not quite as "dignified" to call someone names like that. Those names became more like slut, whore, and oh my favorite then was "white girl", because I acted like a white girl. Slut and whore because I had male friends and their girlfriends didn't understand it--I MUST be sleeping with them right?

Wait a minute, I know what you're thinking...NONE OF THIS IS FUNNY. There's a point to all this, bear with me.

As I said previously, you either learn to laugh about it or you become psychotic. I'm saying all this now because I can laugh about it. There were so many things that happened in my young life that I've just learned to turn into comedy. Being poor, being fat, having a kid straight out of college, getting fired from a job--all of these things make amazing comedic stories. You see, the best comedy comes from real life. Most people know this now, with the not to long ago death of Robin Williams--most comedian hide their true hurt behind the comedy that they create. It's a sad thing, but very true.

Anyway, I love comedy. I love to tell jokes. I love to tell stories about my childhood because as I said before, humor is good for the soul. Not only does it make everyone else around you laugh but it allows you to RELEASE that pain. Release is a great word. Whenever I say it, I just want to take a big breath. Do it with me. R-E-L-E-A-S-E...and breathe.

Feels good doesn't it?

So I tell the stories of my childhood, I tell the stories of my teenage years, I tell the stories of my college life and now I tell the stories in my adult life as a parent. And I do all of this with humor. The silly nicknames (Buckwheat, Mickey Pig, White Girl), the crappy meals we ate (Mama, how many ways can you feed us corn?), the horrible job when I locked my keys in the car on the hottest day of the summer (oh yeah, that was funny--at least I was at the KFC and could have some hot wings while I waited), the time I turned my back and my infant son put peas up his nose (nothing to do there but to just put your mouth over the nostrils and slurp!)--it's all GOOD.

The important thing to remember is that how you deal with your own life and your own emotions is UP TO YOU. Me, I choose to laugh about it. Because when I can make someone else laugh, it makes me feel good. Doesn't really matter if at the time of the event I was sad, or hurt, or disappointed. The point is, I survived it and now I can laugh about it.

So remember, there's nothing in this life that can bring you down unless you LET IT. If yesterday was your crappy day, laugh about it now. Because you SURVIVED it. If today is starting out to be a crappy day, push through and tomorrow will be a new day.

Smile, and release!