Gathering the funny moments of life requires observation. Keeping the eyes and ears open to actual occurrences all around sometimes brings something so funny that it will bring joy for a lifetime. It can come from a look, a statement, a harmless accident; any number of things can bring that special thing called a laugh to the consciousness. Sometimes the person is also surprised by what comes out. One such instance involved a shoe salesman idly waiting for a customer. In walked a pretty, young teenage girl in full makeup, dressed nicely, and with a head full of hair rollers. The salesman started singing the Miss America song. “Here she comes…” and suddenly followed that with: “…Miss….Cellaneous…” which shocked him so much he apologized profusely and sincerely. The unintended outburst of song was so funny that the girl and her friends laughed so hard they had to sit down. How could that not make a lifetime memory?
Even the seemingly mundane act of realizing one’s clothes no longer fit as they should can bring hilarity to the situation…especially when the person in question seriously wonders how everything of his shrank but not hers (you have to admit the humor in that one). There are those simple plays on words-the double entendre`–that bring comical memories too, like the time Robert Shields (the great mime) was overheard commenting: “if one more ‘channel’ moves to Sedona they’ll have to get cable.” Comedy skits abound with subtle malapropisms that make everyone laugh; The Carol Burnett Show was full of such skits. The actors and comedians themselves were often laughing so hard they couldn’t stop (and that was on live television).
Even injurious accidents can be hilarious; just ask anyone who works in an emergency department. When the patient starts to explain the circumstances, the humor often strikes the health-care worker by the third sentence. It’s the repetition of “and then…” followed by yet another really dumb thing that led to the accident. Sometimes the ER personnel themselves get involved, like when a little old man who only spoke Spanish was admitted to the ER for a potassium imbalance. He was out of his mind due to the imbalance, which had necessitated the application of restraints to his arms and legs-he had become violent. Several of the staff members spoke to him in his native language but he was too far out of it to understand. Better somewhat by the morning but still occasionally violent and crazy, the staff warned the day shift supervisor of his violence. She sympathetically removed his restraints when he smiled sweetly at her. He took the opportunity to grab the stethoscope around her neck, to choke her. She screamed and struggled with him ineffectively for a bit; the rest of the staff was too weak with laughter to be able to grab him (of course they did eventually and the man had no recollection of the incident when his brain came back online).
Wherever hilarious moments in life crop up, save them in memory and recall them as often as possible. Those little moments of humor in life serve to remind us that it isn’t always serious…better times will come and we will laugh once more. Humans are funny, animals are funny and our attempts to do some things are downright hilarious. Those are the kinds of things that keep a smile on the face and laughter about the human condition in the heart.