When was the last time you laughed? Was it a 2 second chuckle or stomach stitch hysterics that set off after every breather you took? If you have a toddler, it probably wasn’t too long ago. 

The only downside of me laughing too hard is that I tend to get out of breath and need my inhaler (I’m asthmatic). But I’d welcome a good laugh ANYTIME. 

I don’t remember having too many laughs throughout my childhood, quite a distressing thought now that I think about it. But T, my 22 month old, laughs everyday. She laughs at me being silly, she laughs at herself for no apparent reason, she laughs at the simplest things, any jerky movement or tone of voice sets her off. She’s either a toddler with a great sense of humour or has inherited some schizophrenia of sorts. 

My earliest memory of gut jabbing laughter was with my best friend, Linda, whom I spent many days and years with. We were playing ‘kiss & catch’ with the boys at her pool. Yes, she had a swimming pool!!! Now if you’re in
Australia, it may not be a big deal but in the early 80s, having a house pool was a big deal in KL. So the both of us liked this one cute guy and would allow him to ‘catch’ us but the moment any of the other guys made an attempt, we’d kick and hit and swim for our lives. Talking about it in bed together that night was VERY funny.  

I remember one instance when Linda exited the pool ready to dry herself with her white towel draped over a chair.  She had reached for what looked like a pile of clothes sitting slightly on her towel when we heard the loudest shriek. She had just flung into air, one of the guy’s underwear – NOT the guy we liked.  

Another time, our soon to be ‘boyfriends’ had taken us out onto the golf course with intentions to kiss us but at 12, their balls were not quite yet formed in totality. My ‘boyfriend’ and I hid behind a big tree while Linda and her ‘boyfriend’ hid behind another, we were exactly 20 feet apart. We stood there for the longest time waiting to be kissed whilst these two ball-less chimpanzees kept bobbing their heads out of the tree trunk to exchange a few signs with each other. From their facial expressions, I gathered they were trying to determine if wither one had done it yet. I was about to give them another 2 minutes when a large iguana scurried through our ‘love’ trees. That was it. The boys lost their chance and Linda and I were fast far away and had no intentions of returning. 

Playing ping-pong one day at school with spectators, my opponent did a hard smash and suddenly the ball was nowhere to be found. We searched high and low, even some of our spectators joined in the search for the mysterious missing ping-pong ball. After searching long and hard, we gave up and sent for a new ball. While waiting, out of nowhere the mysterious ball appeared…Plop…. Plop… plop, plop, plop. Everyone roared and questions started flying. There was this really large girl seated on the ping-pong table opposite who was rather sullen. Then it clicked. The ball had smashed right in between her thighs straight to her crotch and she’d kept it there hidden for the longest time!  

These are the first memories that came to my head and now that I think of it again, I’ve had TONS of laughter in my lifetime. More than enough to make up for loss of laughter at any point!

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