Laugh Fest

One interesting fact about me is that when I laugh really hard, I lose motor functions. It is almost like the amount of energy required to fuel my laughter is so great that there is not enough power left over for my appendages to consume, thus they shut down. I first noticed this issue when I was in junior high school. My sister and I would come home from school and get started on our homework at the kitchen table. Laura would generally use this time to see how it would take her to distract me from my work (which usually wasn't very long) with jokes or funny stories from the day. After the laughing fits would run rapid and I would try to get back to my homework, I noticed that I had almost forgotten how to hold a pencil. My work would be sloppy because it was hard from me to force my fingers to make the strokes needed to communicate my answers. You could look at a piece of my work and tell when Laura and I had lost it. Numbers one through ten would be nice and neat and then eleven and twelve looked like I tried to do my work blindfolded.

As I got older, the fits started to take control of more than just my digits. My arms would turn to jelly and often times I would bend over right at the hips because my abs couldn't hold up my upper body. And then there are those rare occasions when I keel right over.

About a month ago, we went to go see my sister-in-law who was staring in a community theater play. After the show, we were lingering around the auditorium, waiting to congratulate her when Troy and I started to get bored and then we got slap-happy. Troy stood behind the back row of seats and with his hands in his pockets, he started to bend at the waist over the seat while keeping his upper body straight. He would bob a little and then come back to a standing position. He looked like one of those drinking water birds that bobs back and forth. I was laughing so hard that not only did I cross my arms and flop over at the hips, I eventually fell to the floor laughing. When I was strong enough to stand back up again, I had tears in my eyes and Troy and I felt the need to show everyone we came with Troy's funny new talent. Most people didn't find it as amusing as we did though . . . . weird.

Being home for the holidays, I have a lot of these moments when I am with Laura and Troy. We just had one a few minutes ago and it ended with me flopped on the floor in the hallway. Then Laura and Troy come out and laugh at me laughing on the floor, which just makes me laugh harder. Troy asked me what it feels like when I lose my motor functions and it wasn't until that moment that I wondered if I could really control them while laughing. If I concentrated really hard, would I still keel right over? Honestly, I don't know. What I do know is that laughing is awesome and if something is so funny that my body feels the need to commit to the laugh fest instead of holding my body up straight, then I am all about losing my motor functions.