Laughter

We all know that laughter is good medicine but when was the last time you had a great laugh? Not a small laugh, not a fake laugh, but a genuine Santa Claus laugh that makes your stomach hurt and your eyes water.

Even more than that, when did you get to share that with someone?

Part of our draw towards tiny living and our adventurous road trip was this exact thing.  The stress of everyday life is absolutely inevitable and sadly it doesn’t offer a ton of laughable moments (at least, not in the heat…maybe afterwards). So many people ask me about life with 6 kids and how I always seem so calm. Well, let me be honest: I am constantly freaking out in my head.

Think about it, every mom does this. We all try to keep it together for our family and sometimes we are so consumed with everything else going on that we aren’t able to enjoy the little mighty moments in between the stressful troublesome times.

I have noticed for quite some time now that my husband was stressed more and more. He’s a funny guy and never lost that, it just seemed as if it were increasingly buried under all the responsibilities and the weight of adulting.

Until about a week ago.

I heard my husband laugh so hard that he was weeping.

What was so different?

This is a man that always sings songs and cracks jokes, but this was different.

Each day I have noticed it more and more and the joy that his laughter gives me wells up inside and makes me so proud of the decisions we are making for our family.

Of course, I know some of you are done reading because its getting too sappy. I apologize for that, really I do. After 16 years of being with Ryan I know that I fall more in love with him daily and if this is too much for you then you may want to unsubscribe because I can assure you there will be more! With that out of the way, I would also like to make clear that we know there is a difference between happiness and joy but when we clutter our lives with so much stuff we don’t leave enough room for the ACTUAL LIFE!

I know that this story might not do it for you, but sometimes words are not adequate to describe everything. Or maybe I’m just not skilled enough with them.  yikes.

We were watching a movie and Ryan started laughing so much he was crying again. I told him I loved hearing him laugh so much and he started spouting off jokes effortlessly.  The best part was how he laughed at every single one of his jokes as if it were delivered by Adam Sandler or Steve Martin. He wasn’t giving a laugh as a consolation prize, he was laughing out of freedom, out of pure joy.

We get it, we get it. He laughed.

But it wasn’t just for him.

I got so much joy from him laughing. Then my kids faces lit up when they saw him laughing so hard. Then I once again had this heartwarming moment as I watched my children enjoying their daddy’s joy.  All from Robin Williams having to poop (we were watching RV-I know, very fitting right).

Sometimes we just have to let go and pay attention. Sometimes we have to take something so simple and just enjoy the laughter.

Christina