Life's Greatest Pleasure

  Nope..this isn't political..or..maybe it is ..sort of...Funny how one's mind works. Out of the blue , obviously through some sort of switch that one often misses, memories come flooding back. Sometimes really dumb sh*t, things one has done in the past that must have been suddenly freed from the cover of grey matter, to float to the surface, and either bring a smile to your face, or a grimace. This is one of the greatest gifts of growing old. The little blurbs that pop by, to remind you that you have indeed lived a full life, even if you sometimes believe it has been uninteresting, compared to others.
  The memories I speak of are those silly ones. Ones, that really didn't make a lick of difference to the world, but generally ones that provided gut laughs. Lord love us..those are so amazing, and by far the greatest pleasure in life. Well, at least I believe this. Laughter is something a person gets to enjoy, no matter how old, or young they are. I certainly don't remember many gut laughs as a child, but I assume they must have been there, those ones that start slowly, and take over, and bring tears because, your gut actually hurts a little, but that pain imprints the moment within you.
  No..don't worry, all those of my friends who provided the scenarios for many of these moments, I am not going to spew our memories for the world. They belong to us, they are like secrets, others will never be able to reach the intense pleasure these times provided to us..Well..maybe..you remember when......LOL..of course you do!! The smile is beginning to form..you know if we speak further, it will all come right back
   I admit, growing old brings a ton of hardening along with it. There are those who know me as one who is always negative, always complaining, and clearly not a nice person. Can't really argue with this, because, often I am, and perhaps this is all they can see. Hey, so be it..as I have stated many times, I don't really care what others think. They don't contribute to my world, so..But they might be surprised..well some of them freaking know..they just forgot..I used to laugh long and often. Hummm..what has changed?
  I laugh at myself, you may not believe this, but I do. In fact a large percentage of my laughter now comes at my own expense. usually it is not because I am being funny, but because I do stupid stuff, and I accept and admit it. No sense denying the fact. I laugh at some show I enjoy, and I will tell anyone, I try not to watch anything beyond comedy, because I need it. I starve for laughter, it is the one thing that fixes all of life's troubles for even a moment.Once laughter begins, it overwhelms absolutely everything else, and I welcome it in. I will grasp at anything that can possibly provide a laugh, and at this point in time, it is often my own goof ups.
  But the laughs that that invisible switch brings to light, are ones I shared, with people I love. When they come back, out of the blue, they are gifts. I can message the people who were with me, type a few words beyond "remember when.." and we are all enjoying a replay. Sure we remember bad times, and take our moments knowing we can still feel the sorrow, but, those are quick quiet moments, the memories of gut laughs, we will drag those out as long as possible, feeling that little twinge even 40 some years after the fact. I shared so many of these, with my friends, and truly gut-laughs are almost impossible without company, which is why they don't happen often now.
  I know almost every single person has had these, not sure what happens, because when I sit and think what brought them on, the reasons are so varied, so I have to presume the atmosphere and the company have to play a big part in this process.I am sure there has been some scientific study, but my take on it, is the company.
  Alrighty, I know I said I wasn't going to tell any secrets..but, for some reason two gut-laughs just will not go away, and I have the overwhelming urge to share...Hey, it's all good, because both of these were at my expense, so I can do it!
  Many years ago, a person came into out lives and became a beloved family friend. She lived off in the South...now I really mean the South..in Alabama. A whole different world to someone living in the North. One day she was gong on about flowers, and smells, and told us about the aroma of Gardenia's . Awww..I tried to imagine this lovely scent..suddenly I needed to know exactly what I was missing. Well..my honey and I happened to go off on a shopping trip to the "big city" and....to my amazement, there on the floor of the floral section were boxes and boxes of white Gardenias. My honey continued down the aisle a ways, but me..I was thrilled. I knelt on the floor with my nose pressed up to the flower, and inhaled, and sniffed..Nothing..I sniffed again..nothing.I tried another flower..sniffing as hard as I could..disappointment growing..what the heck was up??? I imagined this wonderful scent, and my nostrils were getting nothing!! I glanced up to see my beloved staring at me, with a look of bewilderment..hey..he must have seen the same look in my eyes..then he asked "what the heck are you doing?' "Trying to smell these Gardenias" I answered. I could see the smile start on his face..I told him there was no smell at all, something was wrong..And then it began...the smile grew, and the laugh started..I am still bewildered..and then came the words  "Those are cardboard flowers!" Yep... apparently I had been sniffing my nostrils dry attempting to get some scent from the little cardboard flowers decorating the little pots of non blooming Gardenias. Hey..trust me, for the rest of my life, this will follow, in fact when I kick the bucket, no doubt there will be at least one Gardenia at the funeral, this simple stupid thing I performed has provided gut-laughs to myself and my honey..and trust me, I almost peed my pants by the second aisle after this, and I swear he was in the same boat. I would have to stop, and bend over because I couldn't breath for the laughter, it didn't stop, it drove all the way back home, with us, and continued on as the scene was played over for friends. This was and will forever be one of those "remember when you smelled the cardboard flowers?" Gut-laughs.
  The second incident (and trust me, I am sharing these not to make an impression that I am a bit dense..but because they were so wonderfully good, they just might make you laugh) was the lawn mower incident. First off, let me say, I kind of enjoy mowing my lawn. I am not OCD, but..I have a system, and I think I do a far better job at mowing than anyone else..so I feel obligated to do it. Let me also say..I have dogs, and no fenced yard..so we have a run that is connected to the enormous tree pretty much slap dab in the middle of our back yard. Oh, and...although I do the majority of the mowing..I do have a small habit of being lazy. O.K. maybe it is not so much lazy, as it is cutting corners. My dream man was inside watching TV, and I was in the mowing zone. I saw the run, it is a thick plastic coated wire, with the latch on the end, it appeared far away..but keep in mind, my eyes are not what they used to be, and apparently my judgement of distance is a tad off. Now..if the camera had been rolling, we would likely be millionaires right now, but..as usual, fate was against us. We have an awesome lawn mower!! Somehow it caught that line of run, and it "drove" up it!! Yep, I kept hanging on, as it ran up that wire until my arms could not reach, and I let go. I stood there for a few moments..perhaps I was in shock?? Then i began hollering for my honey..he didn't hear..so I had to go inside, and screech he had to come outside and help me. Well, he wasn't thrilled I was taking him away from whatever he had been watching, and mumbled all the way to the back door, and outside..and then silence..and then "WTF???" , and that's when it began...The gut-laugh, it was pretty much mutual timing, and we were left powerless..the mower hung there just below the branches, swinging in the air, as the two of us went weak at the knees. Yep..it remains "remember when you hung the lawnmower on the dog run?"
   So, yes, money is nice, health is treasured, love is amazing, but laughter is indeed life's greatest pleasure!Thank you to all my friends and of course my beloved, for these incredible gut-laughs that are forever mine!!