What's the "laughing table"?

If you could ever imagine a place and the people I will attempt to describe, then you will know the "laughing table," and you will be as fortunate as I am.

First, I will attempt to describe our family. The family matriarch is our 80+ year old widowed mother of 5, grandmother to 8, and great grandmother to 1. Mom recently told us that the current size of her family(including pets) is all she can handle at her age, and there should be no more; sorry to the young newlyweds, that means no kids for you until grandma kicks the bucket! Mom is a character that has certainly gotten riper with age; like stinky cheese. She's from a generation that was blitzed in London during war with Germany, came to America on her own following WWII, married a Navy man, and had 5 children, including me at the age of 42. She is very independent and both married, divorced, and re-married the same man in her life (our beloved dad). Much of the laughing we do around the "laughing table" is due to the fodder Mom provides. We're not laughing at her antics so much as we are laughing because we prefer to find the humor in the fact that Mom is now sometimes forgetful, hard of hearing, stubborn as a bull, uses her age as an excuse to speak her mind, and "doesn't care what we're all doing, just as long as we tell her first."

The rest of our clan is composed of myself, my 3 sisters and one brother, all of our respective spouses, exes and "friends," and all the kids, their "friends" and our littlest kid-of-a-kid that wants to know if "you got a duck in your pants?" Our family is as dysfunctional as the next with marriage, divorce, addiction, mood and anxiety disorders, various family turmoil, and, of course a love that holds us together. You name it, we've probably gone through it at some point. Yet through it all, we have often come through scathed and still able to smile.

One of our favorite places to come together is at Mom's because it's our family summer home in a gem of a location that I will not reveal yet. A dozen of us will literally sit around a kitchen table meant for 4 and talk, joke, tease, laugh and listen for hours on end, and if we're not eating all that time, we're planning what we are going to eat (and drink) next. When the weather is warm or there's a fire pit ready to burn, we'll take our stories outside and circle around again.

It all sounds so mundane and normal. One day I had the gaul to chastise us all for being so lazy for "just sitting around laughing" that I was immediately put in my place and thus the "laughing table" was born. What could be better than to be in a place where we are all accepted for who we are, and we're expected to enjoy ourselves too? Even when our memories are not so fond, we often find cause to chuckle at the random absurdity of life's curve balls. To me this is what family is all about, and I hope you have as many fond memories of sitting around your dinner table as I do.

You got a duck in your pants?

Laughter is such a free commodity when you're young. Giggling, gufahing, the occasional snort, a full blown belly laugh, or laughing 'til you cry, seem so easy for a child, and why shouldn't it be? We could say that children don't know any better, they don't have the same worries or concerns or experiences that have jaded them. But I would disagree and say that children have the same base concerns for their own safety and welfare as adults, some even more so. And yet they still know how to laugh. I would say laughter for some children is even a safety mechanism; a way to gauge a situation and learn which responses are acceptable and which aren't.

And the simplest things that sound ludicrous or inappropriate to an adult are fair game for kids. So when you say to a 2 year old, "you got a duck in your pants?" and you start quacking, of course they're going to start laughing and you could say it over and over and still get a good chuckle. How refreshing! The genuine and sincere laughter of a child is pure joy. We should enjoy it as often as we can. Not only does it make for a happier child, it will make you happy too!

Why do some of us lose our sense of humor? Is being serious going to add years to your life? I think not! So think back to a funny story in your childhood, or what used to make your own children laugh, and share it here. I'm sure you have a great story.