Laughing at Everyday

{Here's another of the Things We Love series in February. To begin at the very beginning...go here!}

We love to LAUGH!

"Honey, you've got your hands full!" 

I've heard it 4 million 5 hundred 17 thousand, 623 times in the produce aisle, at the pharmacy, in the library and every other place you might imagine. I'm never sure what the person saying that to me is really attempting to communicate. Obviously, I know that my hands are full and I LOVE it.

I smile as I watch people watch my little gang when we are out about town, counting each child as they walk by. Some folks smile, others look at us like we've got green skin and purple ears, still others are studying us so intently that I'm convinced that they are trying to figure out which child belongs to our neighbors. Mostly though, people really really just want to tell me that my hands are full.

I usually try to respond, "Yes my hands are full, and so is my heart," and then we have to move quickly on because by that time one of those little handfuls is about to go solo into a busy street, or pick up a china plate to use as a frisbee, or begin a spiffy dance move which will involve spinning "tail up" in the middle of a crowded mall.

It's just another of those everyday things. People are gonna say things, odd things, and I'd rather laugh about it than do anything else. I try to find the funny in the everyday things in life but sometimes it's difficult because those everyday things are so...everyday. {Deep, I know.} Some of the everyday stuff is hard to laugh at...dishwashers that are ever full of dirty dishes, kitchen windows that refuse to clean themselves, clean shelves that insist on collecting piles of dust, laundry that is completely finished and put away one day then mysteriously becomes six bulging loads the next. Everyday. Everyday. Everyday.

I was lamenting my laundry situation to a young friend, a mama to three very young children, and she so kindly changed my perspective. "The laundry! I know!" she agreed, and then leveled me, "I'm just so thankful for the clothes I get to wash, it means my kids have enough to wear."

And the older mother of four said, "Amen." Perspective changed.

You know what else is an everyday thing? Toothpaste in the sink. Used toothpaste. Used dried-up been-there-since-morning toothpaste in my shiny white sink. This does not bother me much anymore though because...how it gets there makes me laugh a little...EVERYDAY...

{Please make sure your volume is turned up.}

Everyday, every time she brushes her teeth, I laugh deeply and then rinse out the sink. 

Everyday.

"A day without laughter is wasted." ~Charlie Chaplin

Check out "The Funny Pages" tab at the top of the page if you could use another grin or two!


For the next post in the Things We Love Series...{click here}