Laughter. Don't forget THAT.

For the first time in a million years, I had dinner out last night.  With a girlfriend. Without a mask.  

And after a great meal and A LOT of laughing, I ended up on the phone with not one, but TWO others, followed closely by some RIDICULOUS messaging with a third.  

And this blog, THIS blog I wrote the night of 'the accident' - 'The accident' that started the wildly crazy spiral of the next year and a half, keeps coming to mind.  

This will be it's third incarnation, the second being in 10 Little Rules for Mermaids.

And the date is interesting to me in that I hadn't remembered that it was written THAT night.  The same way I hadn't realized until I asked to borrow it's caption for the book,  that the fabulous photo of the moon, by maker Andy Birkey, was originally posted that same night.  It spoke volumes to me several days later, post surgery, when I came across it in my feed.

So fast forward to Nov 2020 when yet another dramatic shift, seriously impacted the laughter that had kept me afloat during the summer of covid.  And although things things rebounded to some degree the first part of the year, it had not yet occurred to me until last night that the reason things still felt 'off', that I in fact still felt slightly 'off' is the SHIFT IN THE LAUGHTER.

So with that realization, I circled back to my blog from Nov 2, 2019 one more time with YET  ANOTHER, grasp of it's importance.  

It's the laughter Sunshine.  It is the LAUGHTER that KEEPS YOU AFLOAT.  It is the laughter without which you MAY survive, but you CANNOT THRIVE.  

PERIOD.

So with that having been said, I am reprinting yet again 'the post, from THE night. The night I first connected the dots and the tides began to turn.  The night that I made some REALLY big decisions.  And I am printing it and I am posting it where I can by golly see it on a DAILY basis.  Because I do not intend - REGARDLESS of the circumstances - to deprive myself of laughter for ANY extended period of time, to any REAL degree, EVER again.

 

from The Painted Mermaid's blog, November 2, 2019

 

When I am my most tired and overwhelmed, reading will often help settle my thoughts, and sometimes even put them into words.  As I am scrolling through hundreds of deep and meaningful messages and quotes, one literally made me laugh out loud, and something clicked. 

It's the laughter Sunshine.

It's the laughter that you're missing.  It's the laughter that draws you in and holds you.  It's the laughter that hugs your heart.  It's the laughter that takes you places and keeps you there.  And it's the laughter that hurts the most when it's taken away.  It's not so much those who 'JUST' make you laugh at THEIR jokes, but those who ALSO laugh at YOURS.  This exchange ...

It's the witty banter, it's the back and forth ...

For me, laughter is the fastest way to feel and BE attractive. It helps reset and regroup.  It can soften pain.  Laughter helps heal.  So just know it's OK Sunshine.  It really is.  Laughter is a GOOD thing. And what  it does for EVERYONE around you is just as important as what it does for you.

See you when you get here