Alana Smith
When I was 13, my best friend and I would stay up half the night painting our nails, eating an entire sleeve of Chips Ahoy, and making prank calls to every person whose number we knew.
There was so much laughter.
We’d laugh so hard our face and stomach hurt. Tears would stream down our face. Then someone would snort or shoot milk out of their nose, and we’d be in fits all over again. One of my parents would yell across the house to “KEEP IT DOWN!” and we would cover our mouths and laugh even harder in silence.
It feels so good to laugh like that—without holding back and with no regard for how silly you sound. It really is the best medicine. As a grownup, it seems like those moments of slapping-the-table laughter are harder to find though. We are more reserved and in control of ourselves. And the people you do laugh like that with are usually people who know you well and can make fun of you in a way that others can’t—longtime friends. But it’s hard to make time for old friends, or new friends, when we have kids, spouses, and jobs (unless those friends are built-in with our kids, spouses, and jobs).
Friends seem to be the last thing on our totem pole.
But being friends means that you know that already, and it doesn’t matter. You are busy, and she is busy. Your situation is the same as hers. And when you do come together and find yourselves doubled over in laughter and trying not to pee your pants, you’ll see that the bottom of the totem pole isn’t all that bad.
It’s just the base that holds up a full life, filled with a whole lot of laughter. And that’s really special.
I hope something makes you laugh like you’re 13 again today.
xoxo,
Holy Moly Motherhood
Alana Smith is a boy mom (ages 9 and 4), nurse anesthetist, and writer in Birmingham. She shares her writing at Holy Moly Motherhood (on Facebook and Instagram), where she tackles all things motherhood and marriage.