Bliss on a Budget - Laughter is Bliss

Laughter Bliss

The joke goes pretty much like this – There are two Monkeys sitting in a bathtub. The first one says “scratch my back Mac” the other one says “That’s okay Joe, I have a radio of my own” – Start laughing really hard now.

No – you haven’t missed anything – that is the famous Tim Powers “Monkey” joke. And when I was a kid – I heard that joke, anytime someone new came to the house for dinner (swimmers, friends, dates, extended family, etc) We would be sitting at the kitchen table having dinner promptly at 6:00 pm and after the usual dinner conversation there would ultimately be a lull in the conversation. At which time my dad would get a twinkle in his eye (my father is probably one of the most confident men I know – so he simply says anything he would like, with full confidence that it will be met with nothing but positive results) the look would essentially signal that something delightful was about to unfold. I knew the look, my sister and mother knew the look, (we each had very different reactions to the look – Mine was co-conspirator, my mother – “oh no, not this again”, Emily – part conspirator, part nervous wreck, not wanting anyone to feel bad) and with that my father would say with a huge smile on his face, and great enthusiasm – “hey, have you heard the Monkey joke?” – Not, in all my years of sitting at that table had anyone ever heard the Monkey joke. And so, once he had confirmation of that, he would launch into the Monkey joke, as if he was telling our guest the single funniest joke in the history of the world. At the end, he and I would throw our heads back and break into big laughter and really sell it.

Each and every time people would have a slightly different reaction. Some would laugh in an effort to make my father feel good about his joke, others would look confused and ask him to tell it again, some would simply try and work it out in their heads. These reactions would build upon each re-telling of the simple joke above, with my father getting more animated each time. We (the family – understanding the joke) would watch their faces and read their thoughts – and that would send us really laughing – no longer selling – we were simply laughing at their reaction to the joke. As I am writing this – it occurs to me, how slightly mean this sounds – but we didn’t really have people over who were overly sensitive (at least, I hope not) The laughter would sometimes continue through the remainder of dinner, and dessert, until my face hurt from smiling and my stomach from all the laughter, tears of delight streaming down my face until ultimately my father would walk the visitor through the joke, bestowing it on them, a rite of passage if you will, and giving them freedom to use it again at will, to go forth and have their own laughter filled moments.

Story telling is something the Powers family does particularly well. We love a good story! And whether it is (one of literally thousands of stories) my father telling of the time he and Buck acted like homeless people to get a free meal at the shelter, or Pam telling of the time she went on a date with a blind man and he insisted on driving (think about that for a moment) or Leslie and the drunk man who broke into her hotel room and needed to be wrestled (by Leslie no less) to the ground, you feel like you are there in the moment when we tell a story. We lay out the characters, we usually will get up and act out the parts (occasionally dancing as well) – we use accents and voices – we build the back story, and bring you along – so that by the end you want to come with us – you want to be delighted and to laugh, and you are so happy you decided to stay and play with us – and hear our stories. And most importantly you laugh, you laugh until you can hardly stand it, and then when that laughter is over you wait for the next story to wash upon you and give you another moment just like that. The good news is – with a blog you may actually get to hear a lot of our stories. But as I was thinking about what to write in my blog this week, I decided this week should be about laughter.

Everyone has heard the old adage “Laughter is the best medicine” I believe this with my whole body. I love to laugh – which may sound strange because – doesn’t everyone want to laugh? But surprisingly there are a lot of people in the world – who simply get lost in their day to day struggle and forget to laugh. They get a hard exterior, a shell, and as that shell builds up other people laughing actually starts to affect them in a negative way – you know like “who, the hell, are they, to be so happy?” These people have a choice, we all have a choice, - Like energy attracts like energy – so attract some laughter – and you will, in effect, be attracting happiness.

Now when I say I like to laugh – that generally isn’t because of a joke like the one above. I actually really don’t like it when people tell me jokes. Because I find that a majority of the jokes people try to tell me have one of the following elements; racism, dumb blonde, sexism, dirty, etc. I am actually a pretty conservative girl at heart, and I have a hard time hearing a joke about anything that would fall into one of those categories – because I think those kind of jokes bring the wrong kind of energy. So when someone does start to tell me a joke, of any kind really, the following conversation starts happening in my head:

“Oh no, they are telling a joke? Goodness what on earth is this joke about? Is it okay? Oh no, I just realized I am not listening – I am just acting like I am listening, oh no they are really excited about this joke, oh no, I am not really listening at all, this is not good, good gracious, they are going stop telling this joke soon and get to the punch line and I am not going to have any idea what is was about. Oh no they are going to think I don’t get it, but I haven’t been listening – oh no – they stopped – laugh Jenn, Laugh – quick repeat the last phrase and laugh – good lord – please don’t tell another joke!”

So with that in mind – most of my humor comes from finding the humor in my everyday life. When Keaton lived in Utah, he would go and run errands with me, and we would spend the whole day talking in New Zealand accents – completely cracking each other up. Kennedy and I can laugh until we almost wet ourselves over the details of what happened at school that day. Jackson and James are the most constant entertainment. My friends and I laugh simply at how we react to each other. We are a family of laughers – We use humor to handle the stress that life throws at us – and so consequently the things that get thrown at us – seem not nearly as bad as they look on paper.

So here is my assignment with this week’s bliss on a budget – Go get your laugh on. Go to a comedy club, or re-watch a funny movie my suggestions would include (The Inlaws(the original) What about Bob, What’s up Doc, Meet the parents) – watch some episodes of a funny television show like Friends (the one with Ross and the Leather pants, or Joey and the eyebrow waxing) find some real friends and sit in your kitchen and tell stories and laugh at each other – James and I did this the other night with our friends – It’s amazing how funny the words Interstate, Ce-ment, and Corral can be. Smile at the people in line at the store, airport, restaurant, etc. – give compliments to people who need them. Laugh at how silly you are – be Silly!!! You will find that laughter is bliss – and you can have a lifetime supply – absolutely FREE!!