Inappropriate laughter

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This is a short one, because my eyeballs have assumed the role of a slot machine, periodically rolling back into my head expecting to toss out a matching pair of cherries. I can’t seem to stay awake past 9.30 most nights. So, it being close to midnight means that I’m on the cusp of delirium.

Anyhoo. I’m here to confess. I saw something recently. Something that last year, I would have found offensive or alien. This year – just last week, in fact – I laughed out loud at this thing. It was a joke about drinking. Several jokes, in fact. Each one almost funnier than the other.

Understand this. When it comes to laughing at drinking, I am the last person to get the joke. Instead I feel somehow demeaned. Demeaned and excluded. And angry. By which I mean boiling with outrage. Incandescent with indignation. In other words, deeply hacked off.

So, what’s changed? Honestly? I don’t know. I still gag at the smell of beer and wine. I still steer clear of pubs. I’m still scornful of the grotesquely large proportion of popular culture that revolves around drinking alcohol and getting drunk. But somewhere along the way, my sense of humour has had a minor re-boot.

And what was it that breached the barriers – that made me titter like a school child?

This.

 

 

 

 

7 thoughts on “Inappropriate laughter”

  1. You have to admit it’s a pretty brilliant observation as each vignette was spot on. The difference is kids are funny, drunks are not. We are openly laughing at the kids just being kids. Inside we’re crying and torn about the drunks that resemble them. Sometimes you just have to let go and laugh.

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  2. Glad to hear that the sense of humour getting tapped there, my friend. Means something shifting, even if it’s small. I remember getting my first real belly laugh in sobriety at a meeting of AA. They said something that made me laugh my butt off. I never thought I would laugh again, to be honest. Today I laugh a lot more than I used to – and it’s the real deal kind of laugh.

    Thanks for sharing this – it was pretty funny 🙂

    Paul

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    • Now that’s a relief, because I almost didn’t post this, thinking it might offend some of my friends here in recovery. It WAS funny, wasn’t it? Suzanne hit it on the head, though. We laugh because it’s what children do. But when we see that behaviour in adults… well, it’s tragic. I laughed, yes, but there were a few moments where I cringed and ducked. Those memories are scalding still.

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      • We deserve to laugh. We need to laugh as it’s imperative to our mental health. Remember the first time you heard your baby laugh? It’s the funniest most heartwarming thing ever. When our lives are mired with all that addiction lays at our feet, the struggles, pain, gut wrenching pain, anguish, the feeling we are drowning as we fight to cope with a loved ones addiction….we long for what we once knew as normal. Laughter is normal and it feels good.

  3. I think this is so true and I do think it is good you are able to laugh at it! Without the daily grind of dealing with an active alcoholic, we can sometimes get back to our own lives and move on. Laughter is medicine for soothing a soul. Hope you find more things to chuckle at!

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