#EncouragingDadsProject: Laughing In the Face of Trails

Honestly, I’d say I have a great sense of humor. If there is one thing about me that people can find likeable, it would be that. Yet, I inherited that trait from my father.

When I was young, he was always doing outlandish things to make me laugh, and he taught me the greatest lesson: life is easier to handle when you can laugh at it.

Eventually he had me memorizing jokes to tell my friends. I was so young that I didn’t even realize they were a bit too crude for my age group. Yet, I did happen to make people laugh, which ends up making the people around you feel as if you’re easy-going and you can find the good in life to focus on.

About a year ago, I went out with my dad and he happened to go to a barber shop. He said he had been going to that barber for many years but the shop was empty and the barber was way too quiet that it almost seemed as if he was only a mirage and not actually a person. When my dad and I got back into the car, he goes, “I swear that man was so old he may have been a ghost.” I said, “What?!” and busted out laughing. Then he goes, “Yeah, I think he’s a ghost barber.” We both laughed so hard we were tearing up. We even kept laughing all the way home. To this day, every time we drive by that barber shop, if one of us says “ghost barber,” we both start rolling in laughter.

So whether your dad is a bit of a hardworking man or imaginative like mine, you should find time to spend with him and something to laugh about because life is short and tomorrow really isn’t promised to no one.

Another example would be from my childhood, we used to have a hammock in my backyard. My dad and I would lay in the hammock and read The Terrible EEK! Retold by Patricia A. Campton. It’s a Japanese story but my dad would read it in such a way that we would both laugh and laugh. I even recently gave him a copy for his birthday.

These days, I don’t always agree with my dad but if I give him a little time, I know he’s going to make me laugh or try his best. And there’s no medicine better for when life is full of sadness, violence, hatred, and evil. Laugher is truly the best medicine and I wouldn’t know at all what it tastes like if it weren’t for my dad.

Before I go, here’s a joke I came up with myself:

What did the corn cob say when it was getting undressed?

Aww shucks.