Recently, I had a conversation with my 10 year old and 8 year old nieces about how boring, or as one of them said, "BOORRRINNG!" their parents are, and their observations caused me to do some self evaluation. First of all, I must confess that I'm confident given an opportunity to express themselves, my 20, 17, and 12 year old stepsons would express the same opinion of me and my husband. Although, most likely it would be with a little less dramatic emphasis, since our boys just aren't as expressive as these two little girls.
A few days before this conversation, I made an abrupt S.O.S. phone call to one of my dearest friends. I knew she would be in the middle of her workday and more than likely wouldn't answer her cell phone. I called anyway, thinking, if nothing else, I could leave a long, not-so-thought-out desperate plea of a message. To my surprise/relief/delight, she was on her lunch break and answered. That's when I spilled out my desire to "just get away, go somewhere, anywhere, I-don't-care-where. Some place where we don't talk about our jobs, our stress, our kids, our bills, our whatever-makes-us-adult worries. I want to laugh. I want to laugh until I see spots." When it came to the "when" part, it got complicated, "Not this month, or half of next, or half of the next-next either..." And at that moment, I thought about this commercial from my childhood of a woman, in the middle of her chaotic life, shouting, "Calgon, take me away!" In an instant, she's in a tub full of bubbles surrounded by the most peaceful things of nature.
However, instead of being whisked away to some place where birds are chirping or soft music is playing in the background, I would prefer to be surrounded by laughter. Whether someone is laughing with me, at me, about me, I don't really care. I just love the sound of laughter, the kind that is unrestrained, uncontainable, authentic, and contagious.
Not only do I love the sound of laughter, I love to laugh. And when laughter catches me unexpectedly, I've been known to spew things from my mouth, up and out my nose, across a table and all over complete strangers. I have laughed until I've seen stars/spots/nothing-but-black, until my face hurt, until the pressure in my head felt like it was going to explode, until the pain in my stomach, neck, chest lasted for days afterwards.
As I was replaying my nieces' comments and evaluating my here and now, it occurred to me that even though my husband and I do share a whole lot of laughter, recently I've let the world, my world, conform me into this terribly boring adult. I thought back to my childhood and teenage years and wondered if the child I was then would be pleased with the adult I am now. (Ouch!) The spontaneous, adventurous, larger-than-life, everything's exaggerated me would wonder where my zeal for life had gone. The truth is that I get so caught up in the day-to-day routine of life, I forget to enjoy this day and this moment. In my heart, I know that when I live life passionately, I'm not only happier with my life, but I can tell I make the people around me happier too.
It has taken me a while to get here, so there are some habits I need to change, most of which include a renewing of the mind, but I am determined to live life passionately again.
You may not ever enjoy the experience of me showering you with soda, but if you happen to be in a public place and hear the sound of ridiculously loud laughter, stop being annoyed; smile or maybe laugh a little yourself; look to see if it's me; and whether it is or it isn't, let it serve to remind you to live life passionately. He gave us this life, this moment, this here and now to live life to its fullest, to have and enjoy life in all of its abundance! Start living passionately today. Let yourself laugh out loud!
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