Laughing At Myself
This is one of the posts recovered after a botched website move in 2013. It was originally written and published on May 4, 2012.
On a daily basis, it's a given that I will laugh... at myself.It's not because I think I'm particularly funny, clever, or witty, although I'd like to think I can be. It's because I do things that cause me to laugh at myself out of sheer wonder.The self-laughter is often accompanied by a situation-appropriate statement:
???? "Did you really just do that?"???? "What were you thinking?"???? "Are you crazy?"
Or, my personal favorites:
???? "You silly!" or "Well, that was silly!"
Sometimes the laughter-inducing incidents happen with no one around to witness them (thank God!), and sometimes they happen in public. The public ones, of course, are the funniest.Here are a few examples, including one example that occurred just a few days ago. Have a good laugh - on me.Example #1: About 10 years ago, I'd gone to a show with some friends. After the show, we were waiting in the lobby to meet up with cast members we knew.As I moved to toss my gum into a nearby trash can, I slipped a little on the floor. I looked down and saw my slip (I was wearing a dress, which makes it a banner day) puddled in a satin heap around my ankles.My friends saw it too, of course, as did other passersby. :: sigh. shrug. blush. ::I ever-so-casually stepped out of it, picked it up from the floor, and dropped it into the trash can along with my gum, then burst out laughing. On my cue, so did everyone else.Example #2: 2 1/2 years ago, Ya-Ya Jocelyn and I drove down to Boston to support Ya-Ya Linda. Linda was at Brigham and Women's Hospital where her then boyfriend was a patient.Her boyfriend, who had been diagnosed with a late-stage cancer, was not doing well, and Linda was having a hard time with the dim prognosis. We got to the hospital, and the concierge directed us to the proper elevator to make our way to one of the upper floors.We were two of about a dozen people in the elevator. As we rapidly ascended to the designated floor, I had that feeling of my stomach lifting; that same feeling you get when you drive fast over a small hill."Wheeee."I was oblivious to the fact that I had vocalized the "wheee" until I glanced up at the tall doctor next to me, to see him looking down at me with a wide smile on his face. Oops. :: sigh. shrug. blush. ::At that point, Jocelyn started laughing, and so did I. Happily, it was something funny to share with Linda as soon as we found her, and it lifted her spirits for a short while ahead of her boyfriend dying a couple hours later.Example #3: Three days ago, I met a couple at The Bagelry in Durham. I'm going to be officiating their wedding (fun fact: I'm an ordained minister) this coming July, and we needed to go over the particulars.I've been to and through Durham a few times, but I'm not overly familiar with its traffic patterns.When I was leaving, I knew which way I wanted to go in order to return home, and I found the street signs confusing. I took a hard left, and quickly discovered I was driving the wrong way down a two-lane, one-way stretch of Main Street. Oops. :: Oh, my God! blush. ::I laughed when I observed a UNH student standing on the sidewalk in front of Breaking New Grounds, laughing at me.I laughed harder when I saw an escape route, took a right, and got myself out of harm's way. There was a lot of relief in that laughter.Yes, I laugh at myself a lot. Now if I can just figure out if it's possible to laugh both at myself and with myself...Do you laugh at yourself? Share an example, if you'd like, so we can laugh with you.
