Summer, laughing and love

Winter is leaving us at last and the days are warmer and lighter and the possibility of fun outdoors is becoming more real! Thank goodness. It’s true that we have less cold and more tepid a cold than some but for me this was cold enough to cause illness and a hermit like tenaciously indoors stance. I am over it believe me! And we have had our first summery on the verandah bbq of the season too! About time, it’s nice to see the smiling laughing free and relaxed faces of family sharing a moment or two with good food and wine. I have missed this!

Laughter has definitely been too hard to come by this winter and it’s time to change! The moments that engender laughter have not been happening, as we curl around the heater or by the TV under rugs and nod off to sleep with a book and a cup of Milo at hand during the chilly winter nights. (By the way have you ever wondered why chilly =cold when chillies are hot????)

We need to interact, converse, take part in group activity and show ourselves fallible as we do so to find those laughing moments. Like the time the dog hid under the beanbag because our raucous piñata slamming was just too much for him, or the many rounds of charades we have endured with side splitting humour over the years, or the recalling of memories from our misspent youth and the children’s growing up years as we sit in the summer evening warmth on the verandah.

It’s therapeutic amidst the stress and tension of the daily grind, which despite our better selves we do let get to us!! It’s good to remember that there is a place in the world where things are just not that serious, that important or that central to our lives. It’s good to remember that it’s the circle of family love and freedom to be yourself that matters most. It’s good to recall that close friends are not judging or expecting and that smiling accepting faces in both of these groups is the norm.

It’s good to sit next to your most intimate partner and hold hands in silence. It’s good to belly laugh together and see the tears of happiness in each other’s eyes.

In short it’s not only good to laugh its imperative!! And if you can do it with those you love, wow!!!

I have been too self-absorbed with sickness and getting through my labouring day of housework and work and paying bills to notice the sunset, the stars, the breeze on my skin, the smell of summer in the air. But it’s changing. I am crawling out of my self-imposed shell and starting to smile at the family again. I am ready to laugh!!! I am ready to see the brightness of the moon, feel the healing warmth of the sun on my face, dip my body in the ocean , smell the aromas of many more sharing bbq’s and play a round or two or three of charades!

I am ready to be fun to be around again....I just hope the ones I love have not been made to wait too long!! I guess that’s the best thing about love, it waits patiently and it’s always there if you look for it!