Sunday, November 15, 2009

In Your Face Laughter


“Laughter is the sun that drives the winter from the human face “

Mark Twain


Have you ever gone back in your life and thought about the things that really can still make you laugh? I, of course, have a huge advantage here as I have lived longer, but then again I have forgotten more.

One of the funniest memories that can really make me haw haw laugh is the following. Bill and I were attending one of our daughter’s friend's wedding and were staying in this cool hotel along with the other guests. At the reception which followed, Bill had a great time dancing like a mad fool and drinking probably too much.

The party broke up and we got to our hotel and as we were going to get ready for bed, Bill in slurred speech said that he wanted “one more drink with his daughter and that husband of hers” and took off out of the room. I tried to stop him. Apparently my daughter didn’t enjoy his drunken self either for he came back to the room fairly soon. I was already in bed and he was trying to get undressed in the near dark as quietly as possible.

I lay there listening to his efforts and his blistering comments under his breath as he got tangled up in his clothes. Finally he made it. He turned toward the bed and I heard him take a deep breath and throwing his arms in the air made a flying leap toward what he thought was the bed. He landed Kerplunk right beside it on the floor!

I turned on the light and looked at him sprawled out on the carpet and I could not stop laughing. He wasn’t hurt, just mad. My mom used to say that God takes care of drunks and babies. And I guess that was the case that night. But I can still see his big 6 foot 2 inches frame flying through the air and landing –thump. And I have to start laughing all over again.

And then there was the time we were on a trip to Canada in my son Jon’s new Regal Buick. . We were staying in this hotel and I had gone into the bathroom. The fire alarm sounded and Bill and the boys all ran out of the motel (Jon to move his precious new car away from the building) and without a thought for their mother and wife left me in the john. The fan must have drowned out the sound of the fire alarm and when I finally came out and heard it, I grabbed some suitcases and struggled down the hall. When I reached my gang outside they took one look and laughed and laughed. Especially Bill. He said he could just see the headlines of the morning newspaper WOMAN DIES IN BATHROOM WHILE SITTING ON THE THRONE and laughed and laughed again. Oh, by the way, it was a false alarm.

Then there’s the story of my new vacuum cleaner. Lorraine my best friend and neighbor came over and we were reading the instructions on how you put the dustbag on. It was a good old Hoover with the plastic hose sticking out upon which you were supposed to put the rubber thingy which was attached to the bag. As we struggled to pull the rubber like attachment onto the hose, all of sudden we both thought the same thing- and we rolled over in laughter on the floor. I think of it every time I change the bag on my present vacuum (still a Hoover) and laugh and laugh again.

I’ll bet every one of you could think of funny events that occurred in your life to make you laugh. How about sharing some of them?



9 comments:

Gail said...

Thanks for the smile, I needed one this morning.

Wander to the Wayside said...

I was out and about with my big terrier in the car, and decided to pull into a Taco Bell. I gave my order and pulled forward, but couldn't see anything to mark the pick-up window. Just as I was looking for the window, my dog started jumping in my lap and face, and I inadvertently pulled too far forward. I couldn't back up because the car behind me had pulled forward, so I thought well, I'll just go around and come thru again. Unbeknownst to me, they had one of those parking lots where you can't get from here to there, kind of like a maze. So I kept going up aisles in the shopping center parking lot til I could find a cut-out, turned, went back around, and finally pulled back up to the window. I'm sure four or five minutes had passed. When I put my window down, I said something inane like 'I'm back!', and she looked at me and burst into laughter. "We've been trying to figure out what you were doing!" Apparently they had been watching me, and wondering if I had realized I didn't have enough money and just pulled off. She said if I had turned right instead of left, I would have been able to just go around. But they gave me a fresh order and I went on my way. Writing it now doesn't sound all that funny, but at the time I felt like I was in the twilight zone or like a mouse in a maze, and very stupid, and once I started laughing about it I couldn't stop.

Bernie said...

Bernie, I am still chuckling over your stories, I have so many as well, am off to get my hair cut but will try and get back to you and post one.....keep laughing sweetie, it does make us feel so much better......:-) Hugs

The Weaver of Grass said...

This made me laugh - a good tonic for a wet Monday morning here in the UK Bernie. Have a good day.

Midlife Roadtripper said...

I love the quote - and the third story. Can just hear you giggling as you prepped that rubber thingy.

Anita said...

I tell a funny story about my friend getting stuck in her garage (in her van, trying to get out) Every time I think of it, I laugh.

Copy and paste:

http://btdas.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-are-friends-for.html

Thanks for your stories. Laughter and smiling are good. :)

Von said...

Oh Bernie where to start?? Maybe the time I was going to the allotment (you Britishers will know) at 8 in the morning with a bucket of compost.I tripped on the kerb and landed in the gutter with the bucket contents over me.A rather elderly and very proper woman passed by and said in an accent only the British know how to use "Is she drunk?" It's 30 years ago and I haven't stopped laughing yet!

Bernie said...

You don't have to tell a story if you don't want to. Just leave a comment.

Michelle Wells Grant said...

Ohhhhhh, I get it. The Hoover, story that is. That's hysterical! Hmmmm, let's see, once again, all my funny stories involve too much alcohol and are probably not suitable for print. Yours are better. Keep 'em coming.

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