Can't Stop

In high school my friends and I used to say, “the only time laughing hysterically isn’t fun is when you can’t stop.” As young people, we enjoyed laughing together, sometimes just for laughter’s sake. I don’t have as many of those hysterical laugh attacks as I used to now that I’m an adult. This could just be because I don’t hang out with my high school friends daily like I used to, but I think it’s probably more due to the fact that I am an “adult” now, and I realize that while rolling on the floor laughing may be fun, it doesn’t make me look terribly mature.

But sometimes I can’t help it.

“Madam, this is a glorious hedgehog goulash. I can’t remember ever having had better.”

My husband had to pause the movie.

One witty line from Robert Downy Jr. and I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe.

Laughter is good for the soul. People should laugh more. It’s why I like to watch or read comedies: romantic comedies, action movies with plenty of comedy, and stupid movies that have nothing but comedy.

However, since I was sick last week with a cough that I’m still trying to shake, laughing hysterically isn’t really as amusing as it could be. My body reads laughing as “lung upheaval” and the cough thinks it’s a perfect time to join in. So between enjoyable peals of laughter, I had to endure several rounds of coughing. It didn’t stop me from laughing, it just paused my fun for a while.

“I think I changed my mind,” I told my husband as we took a break from the movie to get some ice cream (throat soothing? Yes, but mostly it tastes good). “The only time laughing hysterically isn’t fun is when you can’t stop coughing.”