Simple Needs

I have simple needs. Sleep, food, diet Coke, the Handy Man. These are basic needs in my life. Basic. Without any of them, I would very quickly stop functioning.

Oh. I forgot laughter. I need this. Every. Day.

There are scientific studies about the benefits of laughter and how it increases endorphins and makes your brain sharp and cleanses your colon- or something like that.  (Maybe not the colon part.)

I can tell you very unscientifically that laughter makes you feel good.

Take tonight for example.

I spent three hours with several friends who I don’t see near enough. We talked about families and jobs and babies and maybe a little about sex. And we laughed. Oh, man, did we laugh. (Because sometimes sex is funny.)

But we’re friends, so that means we also talked about the other stuff. The hard things and struggles. The things that make us doubt ourselves and those that make us cry. It’s good to have friends who understand, (and who, if they don’t understand, nod and smile anyway). And during our discussions about the challenges of life, we said funny things and made jokes. And we laughed some more and the hard stuff seemed a bit easier to take and we all realized that we could go back home and face it.

Because sometimes, amid the stuff, we can take a break and sit with friends. And laugh.