Laughter really IS contagious.

I woke up to find that we're out of milk and the dishes need washed, which can only mean one thing:  It's Monday again.  To make matters worse, it's raining.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the rain and we desperately need it right now, but for my own selfish purposes, I wish it had held off just one more hour so that I could run outside.  Now, I'll spend my lunch half-hour on the treadmill.  And while I'm running and sweating and maybe crying a little, Mae will be sitting on the floor right next to me, trying to get me to spew the great mysteries of the world to her.  She has never asked me why the sky is blue.  She's not simple like that.  She has, however, asked me why there is a sky at all and if there wasn't, would we all be flat and lay on the ground all day?  And if we did, would there be such things as jump ropes?  And if there weren't, would the guy that invented them be poor?  And if he was, how would he buy groceries?  And...and...and...and the and's never end.

The kids went to a wedding with their wonderful grandparents this weekend.  What did Kenny and I do while they were gone?  We went swimming and ate ice cream.  I don't plan to ever tell the kids about it.  They would be horrified to know that we had fun without them.  They did seem quite alarmed when they returned home Sunday to find that the house is not sparkling clean.  We were immediately questioned about our weekend whereabouts. 

We saw the Counting Crows on Saturday night.  I do so love them, despite how my brother makes fun of me for it.  Unfortunately, I had the most uncomfortable seat in the house.  I won't say why because I don't want to offend anybody, but my claustrophobia kicked in immediately.  Kenny must have read it in my eyes because he looked at me, said, "Go for a walk?" and away we went, never to return to our seats again.  We found a nice spot on the grass and it really was the perfect night for an outdoor show.  At one point in the night, a guy with a bandana wrapped around his head, who was about the same height as me, came up to me and put his face right in front of my face.  I have no idea who he was but he seemed to know me.  We fist-bumped and he seemed satisfied.  Stuff like this happens to me more often than I know what to do with, and I can only assume that he's a friend of my sister's and thought I was her.  Kenny gets so upset when I don't correct people who call me my sister's name, but it happens so very often and it's really a lot of explaining and just results in them feeling embarrassed.  So much easier to just say, "Hi" and "Sure, I'll call you tomorrow." 

And then came Sunday.  My brother's thirtysomethingth birthday.  Family time is my most favorite time.  There's nothing like being surrounded by people who have to love you no matter what you do or say.  And just as with every family event, as we sat around the table eating dinner, somebody said something that wasn't even that funny.  I mean it was funny, but the kind of funny that would usually result in a simple "ha" and be done with.  But not with us, especially with my mom in attendance.  Somebody laughs a little, then makes the mistake of making eye contact with somebody else who is also slightly laughing.  And then it happens.  Laugher A can't help but laugh at Laugher B's laughter, which then sets off Laugher's C and D.  And then everybody's laughing because, well, everybody's laughing.  And at some point, somebody new will come along, completely oblivious to what's going on, and they'll say something like, "Amanda, are you CRYING?" and then it starts all over until everybody's crying.  After many large gasps for air, we finally come to a halt with an overwhelming feeling that it is actually impossible to laugh anymore.  And then we eat in silence for about one minute, until somebody says something that's not very funny again.  By the time I leave any family event, I'm exhausted and I hiccup laughter the entire way home, drunk on happy.

So even though it's Monday and the weekend is over, I had more than my share of weekend goodness and I'm confident that it will help me through this long work week.