Look for the Humor

I usually fly on Southwest or American – so when I found myself on Delta the other day, I realized I was in the very last boarding group.  About ten of us waited for what felt like an eternity.  I turned to an elderly lady next to me to assure her, “eventually it will be our turn.”  She smiled. We exchanged about a sentence or two and finally got on the plane.

Fast forward two hours later to when we all stood up, waiting to deplane.  I heard a very loud, somewhat familiar voice:  “Hey!  It’s my friend.  I remember you!  Fancy man! We should get a drink!  Is this the last leg of your trip?”  Yes, it was the same lady, having taken in way too much alcohol, yelling at me from halfway across the plane.  Unfortunately, it took forever for the jet bridge to be put in place, so she just kept talking, with me trying my best to say as few words as possible and not encourage her.  The man next to me had to put his head down in his lap because he was shaking from laughing so hard – he, and all the passengers in the ten-ish rows between the two of us.  “I’ll pay you good money if you agree to have a drink with her,” he told me. 

Now some could say I brought that on myself.  After all, I was the one who initiated the conversation in the first place.  However, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.  That exchange reminded me – and a whole plane full of people – about laughter, which is something we all need more of in our lives. Stress levels rise dramatically in schools in the spring, and sometimes the only thing keeping us from crying is laughing.  Luckily, students do things every day that can make us chuckle – if we allow ourselves to do so.

If you were to ask my sons, the point of this post would probably be, “What goes around, comes around,” but I will choose to look for the humor, and when appropriate, I hope you are able to do the same.