Laughter Track

Laughter Track ©

By

Michael Casey

Laughter plays a big part in our house, I hope in yours too. If you can laugh then you are alright, if you cannot then tension hangs in the air. So what can you do to break this tension, you could fart, or pretend to fart, by blowing farts on your arm.

Air from the heart, otherwise called a fart, as my old Killarney aunt used to say. She was the kindest woman you could meet, and one with an explosive laugh. She was a Jack of all trades. Cook, cleaner seamstress, ambulance driver, washer of the dead, petrol pump attendant to name just a few.

She was 5feet 1 inch tall but 17stones plus. She could bake great cakes too. At a drop of a hat she’s put up with me and my sister and drive us around to see all the Casey Clan, and back to Cromane to see mum’s side of the family. Say 1000 miles in 2 weeks. She knew the back of beyond and its brother. Sat Nav had not been thought of let alone invented.

She was a genuine character, a big kid perhaps but had a heart so full of love. I can still hear her laugher as I talk to you, she was such a character, she loved that word too. A Sir somebody  who lived in Killarney asked for a few cabbages from her, and called her a character. She lived in the shadow of the seminary and the alley courts.

My mum had a funny laugh too, that went this way and that, if you make me really laugh, I sound like a seal too. People say throw a fish at him. As they wipe the tears from their eyes.

Laughter is so important in our lives, all of our lives. It’s a shared experience,  it joins us together as family and friends. Grief has to be broken by laughter. Maybe 35 years ago Rich’s dad died and nobody knew what to say when he came back to work, Rich had a neckerchief around his neck, so I just said “you look like a Rice Crispie  character straight off the box.” It broke the ice and all was well.

I find if people can’t laugh at themselves  then they are too stiff, I don’t want to be around such people. I had plenty of time while I was at CPNEC Birmingham, to practice making people laugh. Maybe 100,000 people saw my face, so I tried to raise a smile from everybody who came to stay. Me, Roger, Jim and Phil on Security were the first faces people saw. We were the friendly hotel.

Laughter is a glue that binds us all, the staff up the road in my local supermarket they all know about laughter. You don’t want a robot serving you, you want a real person, I hate those self-service tills. A chat or a laugh while you shop is how it should be. Nobody needs a piece of paper glued inside the till saying “eye contact and smile” when you have really funny/nice people serving you.

The laughter track to our lives, is what defines us. It can even lead to marriage. I only married my wife because she made me laugh, even though nobody believes this. Having a wife with model looks is the cross I have to carry, but I only married her because she made me laugh. Honest, trust me I’m a writer, or can I hear you laughing. 

photo is the wife and our 2 daughters April 2013 in Malta