You know when something funny happened ten minutes ago and you still can’t stop laughing? And then finally you stop laughing only to think about the fact that you literally cracked up for ten minutes longer than necessary, and you start laughing again?
You laugh so hard for so long that you start to question why you don't have a six-pack. If you’re anything like me, and your friends are anything like mine, this happens all the time, and it’s the greatest thing in the world.
In my case, I literally laugh at my laugh, and so do those around me. It’s contagious; it’s one of those loud, ridiculous laughs that’s almost always funnier than whatever funny thing happened. When I laugh, all my friends laugh, but sometimes I get insecure about it.
There’s nothing I love more than a good sense of humor. I love when people are laughing, and I love being the reason for it. However, to those who don't know and appreciate me, my laugh isn't always all that funny. When those laughing attacks happen in public, and it’s quite often that they do, I can always expect at least a few people to stare.
My high school teachers certainly didn't appreciate when it happened in class, and when I’m in a quiet study room full of people, they definitely don’t think it's funny either. So, if anyone has figured out a way to control a laughing attack please let me know because my only solution thus far is running out of a room to let it happen.
Those who have loud, crazy and easily identifiable laughs like I do will agree that it’s totally a blessing and a curse. My laugh makes my friends happy, and that makes me happy; I so appreciate all the times I get texts from my best friends that read, “having the worst day. need your laugh.”
They tell me all the time that my laugh is contagious and that it makes them so happy. In truth, we all need a “loud laughing” friend, and I guess I'm that girl.
When I say we could laugh together for hours, I mean it- no exaggerations. Once it starts, it’s so hard to make it stop; it’s a cycle: we all laugh at whatever was funny, it dies down, I continue laughing at my laugh, so my friends laugh at my laugh… and it just never ends.
In that moment, the happiness is unwavering. This is when my crazy, ridiculous, maybe annoying laugh becomes a blessing, one that’s worth the judgment I get from strangers. The fact that I can make my friends laugh is the biggest compliment in the world.