Contributor: Christie L., Southlake, TX
When my friend Nicole asked me to write a post for her new website, I thought to myself, why me? I am just a stay-at-home mom making lunches and chauffeuring kids around from activity to activity. A wife who tries to support her husband while he is supporting our family. I am just a woman in her early 40s who thankfully hasn’t had to struggle with cancer. And then I thought, I hate when I hear people say I am “just” something, demeaning their value. So why would I say that about myself?
Then, I pivoted. I brainstormed and brainstormed about what I could offer to this amazing, strength-filled, empowering website. After lots of caffeine, and let’s face it, lots of wine, I said, you know, I could try to offer humor. Writing is not my trade, but self-deprecating, sarcastic humor is my jam. Sometimes we need to laugh because if we don’t, we’ll cry. Sometimes a good belly laugh, medicinally stimulated or not (no judgment here), is exactly what the doctor ordered. Laughter releases nitric oxide, a chemical that relaxes blood vessels, reduces blood pressure, and decreases clotting, Dr. Miller said. I don’t know Dr. Miller, but she sounds brilliant.
Dr. Burk’s studies, (probably, also a woman), showed that laughter likely suppressed the negative effects of the stress hormone cortisol in the body and boosted the immune system’s ability to fight off infection. What more proof do we need than these very easy google searches that I entered into that thing we call the ‘world wide web.’
So, a few quick stories to help get the laughter going. Anyone who has been a mom can totally relate to kids saying things they shouldn’t or at precisely and exactly the wrong moment.
I recently found out that I should stop drinking in front of my kids. I came to that realization when my then 6-year-old had Santa visit her class at school. A child asked Santa what his favorite food was, and he politely responded with “guacamole.” My child, from the very back row of the 1 st grade class yells, “Oh, I thought it would be wine, like my mom’s.”
A few days later, my favorite four-year-old responded to her pre-school teachers’ question of “What is your favorite song?” with “I’m Drunk and I Don’t Want to go Home.” I said I was a stay-at-home mom, not a good stay at home mom.
When I was younger, my mom taught us that our vagina was called “po-po.” I have no idea why we called it that, but I went into my early 20s calling it my po-po. I know, weird!! Remember, judgement free zone here. Anyways, my 4-year-old sister and my mom were at the jewelry counter at Mervyns buying some high dollar jewelry. Y’all remember Mervyns, right?? Jewelry from Mervyns was so, so classy. But I digress.
A woman walked up to the counter next to my mom and my sister. My sister looks at my mom, then at the woman, then back at my mom and says very loudly, “Mom, her po-po stinks.” My mom didn’t buy any jewelry that day and my sister’s collar was stretched out from my mom dragging her to the car.
A final story that I will leave you with before I become a taxi driver again. I received a text from a friend that included the picture above and all it said was, “What did I miss at curriculum night?”
After I was done choking on my wine, I asked my 6-year-old what she thought it was a picture of. She said, “a heart paddle.” And that is how my husband got his nickname. . . . and “it” will forever be called that.
I don’t know you. I don’t know your story. I don’t know if you have had a crappy day today. But I am praying for you, and for your health and for mental toughness. And I pray that you can fit all the laughter you can into your days.
Laughter is the sound of the soul dancing. – Jarod Kintz