Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Laughter
The biggest gift my mother gave me was her sense of humor. She had the kind of funniness that was subtle and dry and a little sarcastic at times. She could tell a funny story like nobody’s business. I like to think that the acorn, me, didn’t fall too far from the tree. All my life I have formed the strongest bonds with people who share this trait, who can see the irony in the world, and who can put it into words that cause belly laughs.
When Sheila and I wrote “Kaleidoscope Diaries”, it started as a plot to write all the funny stories that we could think of. Now, we consider ourselves to be two very funny women. Sheila is a semi-retired educator and I am a retired nurse. Over the years, we have accumulated true stories of the “you can’t make this stuff up” kind. Healthcare and Education are two fields where circumstances can combine to create hilarity. Imagine the fertile field I entered when I became a nurse in a middle school.
Just yesterday I was on the phone with Sheila and we were talking about the possibility of her getting a job and entering the workforce once again. That reminded me of a time when I interviewed for a management job at St. Mary’s Health Center. I had the experience and the credentials to meet the requirements of this job, and the vibe in the room was very positive throughout the interview. Some months later I was at some happy hour with my boss. I don’t know how many margaritas it takes to say something like this, but she leaned over to me and said, “You know, the reason you got the job was that you were the candidate who stayed awake during the interview…” We laughed, and I wondered. Anyway, my advice to Sheila was to stay awake today when she meets with her prospective employer.
I’m sitting here wracking my brain for a funny anecdote. The most recent that comes to mind is from my youngest grandson, who watches Disney movies over and over and sometimes learns a couple of lines that he likes to randomly quote as he goes through his day. The other day he approached his pre-school teacher and, latching on to a line from “Mulan”, looks right at her and says, “You are such a disgrace!”. Needless to say, when his mom came to pick him up she had to explain to the teacher that this is a line from a Disney movie and that he doesn’t know what the word “disgrace” means. Ever since I heard this I have been anxiously awaiting my opportunity to use that quote on someone who deserves it…
I have hung out with friends who are some of the funniest people on the planet. Not that we are stand-up comedians caliber, but we could be. We have laughed so hard that our bladders have objected. I love it when we play off of each other and the result is the perfect combination of irony and a surprise ending, otherwise known as a punchline. I will admit that sometimes the humor is a little evil. That’s OK. There’s a booth waiting for us in the hereafter.