Thursday, March 20, 2008

laughing


I'm not sure if I laugh more when I am pregnant. I might. I mean, I cry more and worry more and eat more and sleep more...so there seems to be a general theme of excess. If I don't laugh more when I am pregnant, I sure notice it more. When I have a good hard laugh, I think about the person that is living in the belly of my laugh and I wonder what he is thinking. I hope he is thinking, 'this sure seems like fun!' and not, 'what the hey is going on?'

Last night I was reading and came upon a passage that had me laughing for maybe 15 minutes. I found it so funny. I think because I can see myself in the author's position. And I feel like she does a great job presenting her perspective, but also the little girl's perspective. And seeing both makes it very funny.

So, I am laughing and laughing and wiping away tears and Dave comes in the bedroom where I was reading to see what the fuss was about. And I had that agonizing experience of wanting so badly to share with him why I was laughing, but really not being able to. I tried reading him the passage, but had to take breaks to laugh some more. And I was laughing/trying not to laugh, when I got to the funniest part. And instead of laughing he had that question mark look on his face. So frustrating!

Here is the passage. The author is describing her efforts at teaching Sunday School.

For example, I had hoped we could throw around a beach ball while we memorized a line of scripture-calling out one sentence, like "Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." But the kids had the attention span of fruit bats, and the boys would throw the ball too hard at one another, as if playing dodge ball. I quickly switched to "God is love," but the children could barely remember that either, and wanted it to be their turn only so they could try to hurt the others with the beach ball. "God is love," I said through clenched teeth, and then threw the ball to a girl, who froze, so that it slapped her in the face like a whale's tale.

Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

7 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anne said...

Anne Lamott is my guru! I absolutely love her. Plus we have the same name. :)

I have gone days without crying, but I don't think I've ever done a day without laughing. Not even the darkest ones.

Tara Whalen said...

Well, sometimes love hurts. =)

Susan said...

So, is this a test to see if you laugh more when pregnant by checking to see if we all think this is funny, too?

I have to confess, I didn't laugh out loud. But I was still laughing out loud from something else I'd just read so maybe I don't count.

I certainly hope that I laugh more when pregnant because I know I cry more and I feel like my babies need something to balance all the stress hormones I send them during those times.

Loralee said...

I love when things I read strike me as so funny that I just can't stop laughing. I often giggle while reading, but when I share with Shawn, he looks at me with that same question mark look on his face. Interesting that I keep sharing anyway.

Marti said...

Robyn, I am troubled to note that not only have you taken to G-rated swearing on the telephone, but you've also begun ascribing G-rated profanities to your unborn child.

...Does Dave know about this?

Dave said...

Do you mean..."what the hey?"