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07/11/2009: "Bonfires and Belly Laughing"
We'd been invited to a bonfire at Sandy Beach and I'd been looking forward to it. But as is often the case, by the time I got home from work Friday night, I was feeling tired and home-body-ish. The bonfire started at 7...but we fell asleep on the couch until 8:30. Aaron felt it was too late but I thought we should make an appearance.
We packed the large wicker picnic basket (a wedding gift from our friend Kate) and walked the two blocks down to Sandy Beach. The fire was roaring, there were lots of people there I knew as well as kids and dogs for Noah to play with on the beach.
We ate hot dogs and s'mores and drank ice cold beer. My artist friend Tasha offered me a sweet deal (art related but still secret) that still gets my heart atwitter to think about. The weather was beautiful and we were all in good moods with lots and lots of laughing. It felt wonderful; on a scale of 1 to 10, Noah rated the night a 37,000.
Then this morning I received a poem that my best girlfriend from college (talented writer Jenni Williams) wrote:
The Beginners Guide to Belly Laughing
for Elise
Here’s how you belly laugh:
Get a friend then
Lie on your back and close your eyes
Pretend to laugh, go hee hee hee, haa haa haa, hee hee hee, haa haa haa
Hee hee hee, gwhaa gwhaa haa snork, gnhuhn-nug haa herp…
Keep going no matter how uncomfortable or stupid you feel
Forget about the things you need to do
Forget about everything weighing you down
Forget about the things you’ve lost or can never have
Hah-HA,Hee heeeerp, ho-ho
Hold your friends hand tight
Change the sound of your tone
Go high, go low
GHUH GUH GUH GUH nhee nhee nheeeeeeee
Don’t open your eyes
Don’t think too hard
Feel it coming
It’s there
Mmmmmh mmmmmh Hmhhmmmm hah HAH heee
Don’t stop
It’s in you, right in your gut
It’s rising up, moving through you
Listen and release
Don’t worry
It’s okay
Sometimes you laugh so hard
You have to cry
Jenni and I used to belly laugh, just like that. At first it would seem awkward but soon you're laughing for real, and then laughing so hard your abs hurt and you have tears rolling down your face. I hadn't thought of it in so long, but they are such a good memories. Jenni is the girlfriend I can be the goofiest with. She brings me back to being 6 years old a time when nothing you do is considered silly or "immature".
Aaron and I can be playful like that as well. I'm basically a dork, and I most cherish the people in my life who not only embrace my inner dork, but feel free to exhibit their own!
I guess the point of all this is that we should never forget to play. To make time for laughing. To make time for friends, even if we're tired at the end of a long day. It gets harder, the older we get, the more responsibilities we have. But if we don't have room for joy in our lives, really, what's the point?