it's easy when you laugh. reminds you of you.

commandment: surround myself (with compassion and laughter).

i'm thinking this commandment, surround myself, is going to have several parts to it. here's what i have so far.

all my life, i've been close to my family and friends; i've been a homebody; and i've never known anything else. for twenty-five years, i have been surrounded by kindness, support and an abundance of laughter from those who have - and who have had - a place in my life and a very big place in my heart. i know, i know - this is getting a little sappy. but this is an important commandment and the most important one to me.

anyone who knows me knows how very important my family and friends are to me. they are my heart, the voices in my head guiding me along, those who know me best and those who, year after year, give and love unconditionally. and if there is one thing we're all really good at - it's being able to laugh through it.

i think about the people in my life - family and friends - and i've found a similarity among us all. laughter. other people, outside of my family and friends and me, probably think we are all crazy for laughing at the times we do and being able to do so. sometimes, i've even thought to myself, "are we really laughing right now?" (after a difficult situation or conversation). you've heard that barenaked ladies song "one week," right? and the line that goes, "i'm the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral." for some reason, that lyric always comes to my mind when thinking about all this. we're never making light of any bad situation. it's not like that at all. it's just simply what we do and a way (one way) we get through. get through it by laughing through it (how's that?).

i found a quote recently that said - "happiness isn't what happens when you whistle along, pretending bad things don't exist." to me, it means this - just because you don't face your problems and really deal with them, that doesn't mean they're not there. and it's true. pretending doesn't make it better or fix anything. but i also know, without surrounding yourself with happiness and without being able (at times) to laugh your way through it with the ones you love, well - think of how miserable you'd be. i can't imagine not being surrounded in this time.

i brought up that quote because there have been times when i've been accused of not dealing with things and, in turn, not letting things go (which i talked about a few blog entries ago). but here's a thought i recently had about this and this whole situation - why stay down and be miserable if you don't have to - if you can deal with it in your own way and laugh your way through it instead? now, i'm not saying i've laughed through all of this. but what i am saying is this - it doesn't have to be the end of the world at the end of the day. and why am i so sure of all of this?

my family and friends. the ones who have been there - surrounding me - laughing with me all along.

"you cannot deny laughter. when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants."