Lauriel’s story will make you cry with laughter!
Have you ever almost killed your brother because he breathed in helium? Well I have, so I’m going to tell you all about a story that when I think of it cracks me up. My brother was invited to our neighbor’s which is his best friend’s birthday party, he went and came back late. I was in the kitchen getting something to eat, he walks though the door with balloons, cake, and candy. He puts all the cake inside the refrigerator. I ask him if I could have some, he says yes, I take out a plate and a spoon plus a knife. As I'm eating, he looks at me and he says have you ever sucked helium? He said he's seen it in videos, and that it changes their voice. I just looked at him, he says OK I'm going to do it. So he takes one of his balloons, bites a small hole and starts breathing it in, but I don't think he realized that you were supposed to take small breaths and talk, you can't inhale so much of the helium, but he kept inhaling like it was normal air. I start laughing, his voice was super high when he decided to talk. He was not just laughing, he seemed a little woozy, he was leaning forward and backwards, he was all over the place. Let me remind you I'm still eating my cake, but I'm dying with laughter, he starts falling into the chair that I'm sitting in, with my knife, I did not cut him, but I was so close, I moved my knife so fast, it was as fast as lighting. It was funny until I realized that he didn't just crush me, he smashed my cake. I was so mad I was like, why you must you be so stupid. I went and got another piece of cake and I said let's tell mom. We told her and she said in a I'm-going-to-start-laughing-but-I-must-be-serious voice, don't you ever do that again. Whenever I remind him of that story, we start cracking up. I don’t think I'll ever forget that story. That's my hilarious story from childhood.
Camryn’s beach memory brings giggles
On my dad's side of the family there is a lot of laughs. We go down to the shore with his six brothers and their families. There are so many times I could remember that we were all laughing on the ground. One time, we were playing our annual whiffle ball game on the beach. It's not so easy to run fast in the sand. I was at first base and my mom was up to bat. The wind was blowing, and the waves crashing in the distance. The sun was still up in the sky but would be setting soon. People were off the beach, because it was later in the evening. I forget who the pitcher was, and if my mom got any strikes. She hits the ball and starts running towards first base. She was so close until she tripped! It looked like a scene from a movie. We were all dead laughing, and if anyone brought it up today, we all still would. Anyone on or around the beach must have been so confused as to why we're all rolling in the sand laughing. She got out in the end but that didn't matter cause we all enjoyed getting to see that. My grandfather gets to give the trophy to someone every year, and I bet you can guess who he gave it to, my mom!
Reid has a keen perspective on laughter
Somehow the simplest things come with laughter, like a chime being rung, it doesn’t stop ringing till a few seconds later when the sound dies down. My friend Max made the fall slipping and sliding like he had a dozen bananas under his feet! The slushy turf making every movement feel like you were in quicksand. Our laughter never stopped, it was the laughter that make you giggle every second, the kind that makes you paralyzed when you try to stand up. Why we felt this way, well we don’t know. You never know when laughter will come to you. Sometimes pain can even be confused by laughter, it comes quick.
Annika finds joy in her Grandfather’s foible
Amber Fort, Rajasthan, India
It was like nothing I had ever heard before, laughter bubbling out of my mouth, loud and intense, as grandpa spewed the words recalling, his hilarious meeting with a South Asian woman. He described the moment in the back of my dad's car as we drove to the 76’ers game. He described it as, the first time we went to Rajasthan, a booming, never quite city, in South India where we came for a vacation. It was the third day we were there, the sun extremely bright in the sky, you could burn your eyes, and immense heat you could boil an egg on the floor. We had just left in the minivan to visit Amber Fort, the great palace of Rajasthan. We did have a lot of fun, although I’m pretty sure we all got a heat stroke. My dad taking pictures at every stop, had an album full of memories. The sun, now setting, hazy in the sky cast a shadow on the great fort, transforming its color from a brown, to a mud orange. We decided to take pictures, in this lovely museum kind of section in the palace. The white columns stood tall, holding up the roof, and a chain of patterned windows surrounded the place. Since the windows looked so great, my dad decided to take a picture through them. We stood on one side of the window, as my dad clicked from the other side. This is when it got out of hand. Since it was getting late people started leaving in swarms. My mom grabbed my hand as we walked through, my grandma and brother following. And this was all I remembered, but little did I know I missed out on the funniest part. My grandpa told us when we were leaving, the story of his embarrassing event. As he was walking out, he grabbed ahold of a woman's arm and thought it was my grandma. He held on to her hand and said, “Annett, when did you put on so much weight?” The woman turned and she was not my grandma, she looked shocked, an angry vein popping from her forehead, she slapped him across the face. We all went silent, then my dad and I looked at each other, and started howling with laughter. The kind of laughter that startled a room, and the kind of one that made others want to join in even though they had no idea of what was going on. My grandpa, on the other hand, did not look pleased, the right side of his cheek maroon red from the hit, he walked away. Now that he recalls it, it's very funny, and it certainly was.