When you look at old people who have been happily married a gazillion years, you almost always notice one similarity. They have a sense of humor. Humor saves many relationships and friendships. It also helps to save our sense of self, especially as we grow older.
Think about it. With aging comes betrayal. Our vision begins to fail us. Our hearing begins to fail us. Our hips begin to fail us. Our memory…I can’t remember what I was going to say. Anyway, in many ways, we begin to lose the power we held for so many years. Case in point: About six years ago, I bought a ukulele. I had secretly always wanted to learn how to play one. It was on my bucket list, so to speak. I watched YouTube videos. I practiced chords. I practiced strumming. My, mild as yet, arthritis let me know that this was not an appropriate use of my achy thumbs. I finally had to decide that certain body parts were better put to use opening pickle jars, while I still could. I sadly sold my ukulele.
Then my husband passed away. Then my mother passed away, all within a year. Then, I started writing. I joined a group learning to write. We journaled. We wrote about our feelings. We wrote about anger and loss, pain and sorrow. But there was always a theme sneaking into our words. Humor: dry, innocent, ridiculous, sometimes self-directed and sometimes not. The laughter at my words and others’ words would bring me back to Earth. Humor would ground me as I stood on the shaky sand of grief. Humor would dissipate the desperation that comes with the unknown of the next day of my life. Humor can be life-saving.
Even Jesus liked humor. When speaking of a rich man who believed his wealth alone could get him into Heaven, Jesus likened it to a camel fitting through the eye of a needle. The picture that formed in the minds of his listeners would have invoked great laughter. I always wonder if any of them were eating a salted fish lunch and almost choked. I hope not. That would not have been funny.
My point is that Jesus knew the value of humor that helps us through difficulties in life. It gives us the perspective that grief and sadness cloud over. It helps to begin to heal the emotional wounds that hinder my well-being.
I was in a restaurant, wearing a new white blouse, talking with friends and eating a taco salad. I lifted the fork towards my mouth. You guessed it, half of the salad did not make it to its destination. I looked down at my now white and red blouse and thought about being devastated and running to the bathroom in disgrace. You understand, this was the first time in my life that this happened. (Liar, liar, pants on fire!) Instead, I began to chuckle and shake my head, looking at my friends through squinty eyes that said, “Yup, that’s me.” How do you think the rest of our lunch went?
One day, I would like to ride a camel.
Just thought I would end with that.
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