Laughter is pretty strong stuff. This realization came as a product of the Labor Day weekend. Labor Day in itself is a wonderful holiday. This is especially true in the Clayton school district, which adds an extra day to the weekend for students.
On this weekend my whole family gets together. In Hutchinson tradition we pile ourselves into one house (because hotels are overrated when you’ve got family) and the let the family bonding begin. And the bonding begins and ends always with a funny story, a humorous tidbit of someone’s life. Whether the story be old, new, overtold, or always in high demand, it serves a little towards bringing us closer together.
These stories are always funny regardless of subject matter, or at least messed up enough to be deemed humorous in some eyes. My family thrives upon the laughter that these stories bring, which is not to say we’re a silly bunch, but we realize and appreciate the power of laughter.
Of these family stories some of my personal favorites are the donkey up a mountain story, the locked at night into a wildlife park story, the almost hit a giraffe story, the man who almost jumped story, the fell off the camel story, the why I liked your grandpa story, and the sick old man story, which I heard for the first time just this past Labor Day weekend.
My grandmother and aunt were looking at a possible piece of real estate to buy. The realtor led them to into the property and showed them around. In the living room of the apartment, lying on the couch, was a very old sickly man with a peculiarly vague expression on his face. If the man’s expression was peculiar, the odor being emitted from the man, was downright unnatural. The man was there, because supposedly, the realtor was looking after his health.
Noticing the man’s pallid appearance, my grandmother asked, “Is he — okay?”
To which the woman promptly and dispassionately replied, “Oh him, yeah, yeah, he always looks like that.”
My aunt, completely dissatisfied with this answer, whispered to my grandmother, “Don’t he look dead to you?”
Dead, they both agreed was the man’s ghastly state of appearance. Without any proof to back their own observation, they continued on with the tour of the house, inspecting the state of the apartment as perspective buyers should. They left property feeling good about it and still interested.
That is until a couple days later when the woman selling the apartment called to apologize for showing them around an apartment with a dead person in it.
Others might not find this story particularly funny, on account of the dead person and all. But, it kept my family laughing and in a good mood for hours after it was told. Which is where the growth, reparation, and strengthening of family relationships are able to flourish.
My family’s stories help to tie and keep bonds between family members through the use of laughter. What keeps my family together through rough patches or disputes is our ability to extract humor from difficult situations. Appreciating this phenomenon is important to having successful relationships within your family.