When you see someone laughing…

Laughing is the best and maybe not seen as often as we’re set on this planet to see… I’d almost not written. I believe in the power of a good laugh just as much as I believe in the power of love. Not seen as often blah blah is not an option, but for the purpose of clarity, we’ll just let it be. Me speaking through your speakers sounds like an option to you, too? Laughter happens so naturally that it’s precisely the naturalness that makes us fall in love with laughter just as laughter makes us fall in love with love. More love with every minute of every hour of every day. It sounds poetic because it’s true. It’s poetry. A good laugh has truth in it, just like good love does.

When you see someone smiling… A smile is sexy. When it is natural. 

I might have not known what humour was, as a child, but I know what I’ve always felt in those seconds of laughter – pure joy. I don’t know why I knew, however, what shy was. Wait, I do know. I believed I was shy, that’s why. Now, I might agree with mom: you just did your thing, you weren’t shy. It comes with every minute of every hour of every day. These keep coming in. They represent time, but what they, even more so, illustrate is what we’re doing with it. With, yes, every minute of every hour of every day. Chillax. It does not mean running the marathon, or maybe it does to you. A good run, here and there, though, feels pretty cool. It’s that relaxing exhaustion that makes you inhale, exhale, in a specific sort of way. It’s the Love Hangover Diana Ross is singing about, the adrenaline rushing in, the whole ball of wax.

To laugh, the thing about it is… It’s almost always a surprise. Or is it? It is, right? You never know with laughter. It just shows up. You don’t, necessarily, put on your running shoes, those four layers of clothing when it’s cold outside, the headphones in your ears and press play. You might. You never know with laughter, see? All we know, for sure, is that it has the best intention. It’s in the energy.

I don’t really remember jokes, the jokes that people laugh at, you know the kind, or maybe my mind refuses to, or something, but I do enjoy a joke that just happens, all of a sudden, out of nowhere. I don’t think about it, it’s instinctive, and that’s when I laugh. 

Laughter is, sort of always, bubbling up inside of me, always ready to come out. But, here’s a big, big but. I believe laughter is so sacred – a smile is, too – that I can’t, or simply don’t want to laugh when there’s something in a joke that stops me from laughing. The brain, immediately, says hello. Gotcha! My stomach is waving some sort of flag to me. Is it red? A couple of weekends ago, I went to a friend’s house, another friend of hers came later on. The fun we had! But, then, a joke came up and I couldn’t laugh. Anyone’s intention of making anyone smile is, definitely, something to appreciate, at all times. The friend telling the joke started to laugh at my not laughing. Like that. I smiled. I love when someone smiles or laughs. It, instantly, puts a smile on my face.

With smile, however, it’s that something. And it’s that something in particular for each and every one of us. It, instantly, puts a laughter in my stomach, for sure, when I simply can’t hide it. Don’t want to. Sometimes, you might need to, but the laugh just doesn’t give a f. It pushes our boundaries, so that’s fun. It also makes us vulnerable. A.k.a. strong, fun fact. It just doesn’t want you to become a stranger. To yourself. It needs to come out. And you love it.

The other day, as I was painting my nails, at home, and about to enter a very romantic weekend with friends that are family, with friends that I can laugh wholeheartedly with, it happened. The left hand was painting the nails of the right one. It’s the right one that I’m writing with, so yes. Focus is required and focus, actually, relaxes me most of the times. Few things, however, relax me as a good laugh does. My peace fingers were in line when Jonathan Ross, in the background, said something pretty funny, I smiled and managed to carry on with my painting, all under control. He went on growing the momentum, though. So. Naturally. I smiled again. Painted one more nail. It was by the middle finger that I lost it, I had to stop painting it because the bubbles inside just didn’t give a f. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles and boom! The best. It’s the unknown, at times, that surprises us the sweetest. It’s that wax. That honey.

She was still laughing when she asked Ok, so, then, what’s a joke you really like?. Remember, I’d just told you I don’t really remember jokes. So, I told her the only joke I do remember. It’s also the shortest one ever, go figure. It implies cherries, I’ve known it for I don’t know how many years, and I’m only mentioning time here because most people know it from school (is what they say) and they say that they know it from school, every time. It’s a silly joke is what I’m emphasising here. It’s a word play of four words and it’s not even that grammatically accurate. Most people, nevertheless, seem to mind more about the aforementioned time factor than about its finesse, is this why it makes me laugh? It’s so simple, timeless, childish almost. Hm, I don’t know about that, it implies an allusion to s. e. x. It’s not any allusion, it’s straight away s.e.x. So, yeah, maybe that’s why I like it, a perfect mix. Similar to Netflix and Chill. And it implies cherries, it has this good twist.

The reaction of the people hearing it is always, always, an original one. It’s one more thing I, also, like about it. So, I ask her: Do you know the cherries joke? Cherrieeeeees?, she replies. She knew the joke and was stunned by the fact that the cherries joke was it for me. And laughed wholeheartedly, so there you go. It doesn’t make any sense in English, it doesn’t make much sense in any language, really, maybe this is why I like it, too. It doesn’t make sense, but then again, it makes all the sense in the world when it just makes you laugh.

Cherries do imply an allusion to the something-something the Greek philosophers knew, even BC, about. Btw, did you know there are cherry trees, in Japan, that are thought to be over 1000 years old? Or 2000? Imagine their every minute of every hour or every day. Most of all, cherries symbolise immortality, so maybe don’t imagine their every minute of every hour of every day and start to live your own every minute of every hour of every day. So, yes, imagine.

There’s one more joke I know, I had to look it up, though, it’s the joke Uma Thurman tells in Pulp Fiction: Three tomatoes are walking down the street. Papa Tomato, Mama Tomato and Baby Tomato. Baby Tomato starts lagging behind and Papa Tomato starts getting really angry. Goes back and squishes him and says ‘Ketchup’.

Laughter, just like smiling, is connected to expressing feelings. Saying exactly what’s crossing your mind, while using your intelligence, is something that the Yogi Tea thingy would say: Intelligence and intuition are true friends. Just like when we were kids and said everything, didn’t care about anything but to express whatever was on our mind, in the moment. We don’t even question it. Oui, I’m switching to present tense. Words show up and boom! That’s why it feels so refreshing to be around children.

There’s a new one year old baby boy in our family and the presence this baby brings into a room is magical. He’s fully present. He really enjoys every moment. Or completely the opposite, you know what I mean. But even then he would, sometimes, smile with that smile that might have passed by unseen, but you saw it, cha-ching! Whatever he wants he points at, speaks in his own language, seems to be in love with his parents and, unapologetically, shouts it out from the mountain top. He really wants to be part of their group of two. He enjoys the natural bond. Discovers one more person and so on. It’s something in his eyes. And then he laughs, mamma mia, it’s like the sun is in the house. He likes the sun. And baths. Watching Sing. Looking out the window. At the sky. Playing with leaves. Enjoys delicious food. Being with Leo feels like playing. A serious game. 

But we grow up and as we do, stuff happens and we spiral. Thank goodness it’s the stuff that adds up depth and complexity to our inner life. And then, one day, we laugh. Transform. Yes, this is where every minute of every hour of every day shows up. Hi!

Or it’s that second you see the smile in their eyes when they look at you and you look at them. I wrote about laughter a while ago, I wrote a lot about the power of a smile in 2022, and all this, I guess, turns me into a sucker for that something. Yeah, yeah, who isn’t, right? Well, they say everyone wants happiness, too, but it’s a specific kind of kind, courageous, attentive, fun people who actually choose it. It might happen unconsciously, at first, it just makes us feel so good, but then, we consciously choose it when life pokes us on our backs. Hey, hey. So, there you go going twice.

My sexy friend feeling bummed out, on a Sunday night, that her daughter was feeling bummed out that she had to go to school on Monday:

A lot of naturalness, for sure, but a lot of too much, at times, too? Absolutely! But so committed, so true. Life is changing with every minute of every hour of every day and so, you, most certainly, do you. You were meant to be expressive just as when you were a child and remain one, at heart, your whole life. Somewhere over the rainbow. Come out and play. We started with something good always follows a good laugh, so, yes, the rainbow makes all the sense in the world.

Literally all of the above applies to style. Too.