Humor, Our Bottom Line to Living Happy, Healthy Lives

As I've mentioned several times, our family has a unique sense of humor. Each of us, including Laura, has developed their own brand of humor and we choose to use it liberally. Don, for instance, has a quick way with one liners and his humor is usually very dry. Matthew and I are good with puns and we both can use sarcasm, especially when making light of ourselves. Matthew also is quick with wordplay and Jonathan can come up with some zingers as well. Jonathan is also very good at jokes. He's refining his timing and I fear he's going to be the comedian of the bunch before long. And then there's Laura. She takes after me. She's very good with facial expressions and can give you one of those 'looks' that lets you know she's on to you and just what she thinks about it. And she's an excellent imitator. But she doesn't always imitate at the right time so she's developing a new form of comedy around here - cracking us all up with her 'oopsies'.

We've all learned how to use humor when things are tense but we usually forget in the heat of the moment. Well, most of us anyway. But not Jonathan. As part of his role as the peacemaker in the household, he'll step in with something to lift the tension at the best of moments. Let's take the other night for instance. We were late getting home on a weeknight and it was already way past Laura's bedtime and was circling over the boys as well. After the groceries were all put away, I started hustling everyone upstairs but alas Laura had gotten her second wind. Or maybe it was her third. I'd lost count by then. I only wanted everyone to get to bed so I could follow. As I told Laura to get her 'fuzzy bunny' and head upstairs, she folded her arms, looked at me out of the corner of her eye and very firmly said "No. I not ready yet." Since I'm working very hard at responding without anger, I put my response on pause for just a few seconds in order to gather a more appropriate response from the nether regions of my very tired brain. It was very quiet in the room. Matthew was watching carefully to see if I was holding true to my efforts at remaining calm while under stress, and Jonathan was standing off to the side watching, too.

The silence stretched longer than I'd anticipated. Perhaps I fell asleep. No. I am sure my mind was working. Working hard to keep my hands from reaching out and popping her little bucket if nothing else. And then, from the silence came our salvation. Jonathan, having spent at least a good 10 minutes earlier in the day watching the Mom Song over and over again, stepped in for the save. He jumped next to Laura, knelt down and pointed his finger in my direction. Then, using his best bass imitation, started singing as loud as his little body would let him. Out came "Because, because, because, because, she said so, she said so, she said so, she said so. She's the Mom, the Mom, the Mom, the Mom, the Moooom! Ta-da!!!

It was quiet for a few seconds. Enough time for Jonathan to swing his head around and look up at me with a the cutest little smile on his face letting me know he was being the best big brother he could be. And then the laughter started. All four of us just roared. I think Laura most of all. And then, as her shoulders sank in to submission, she took my hand and walked up the steps to bed.

Yes, humor is one of the staples around here. And honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. :)