Laughter
Author: Krista, Riverside, CA
I don’t like writing without wine. I’ve heard coffee helps you take in information, and wine helps you regurgitate it. With all of my online nursing school, I’m going to enjoy writing this with errors and not in APA format.
Between nursing school, raising a toddler, and working in a nursing home, our spare time includes watching movies like Bird Box, Signs, and Five Feet Apart. Next, we are watching Jumanji, and I’ll imagine the flying COVID bats coming down the chimney then cheer the kids on to finish the game.
I hated moving out of my mom’s house to keep her safe from COVID; and I hate that she has to watch my baby grow from outside the window as she longs to hug him again. Like many, after losing family members a few years ago, we know the importance of the time we have with each other. I want to see my niece on her first birthday tomorrow, and my baby didn’t know why he couldn’t hug his uncle on his birthday. During these times, I have reflected on my faith, my gratitude for all I have overcome, and the coping skills I have today. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”- Philippians 4:8 NIV.
I have learned to write over the moments of pain and grief with laughter. "If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor," -Jennifer Jones, an American actress and mental health advocate from the early 20th century. A good sense of humor comes from those that lived through great loss. When you need stress relief, pour your olive oil on the floor, do your treadmill, and scroll through all the memes that wouldn’t be so brilliant if it wasn’t for COVID. Who knew you could use a bra as a face mask!
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that health does not equal happiness; if someday I must use a wheelchair, I will still enjoy racing down some hills. Some of the sickest patients are the happiest. I work as a CNA; one day I had as many as 20 COVID patients. My favorite thing about working with patients is when they spend a long time trying to tell me something, and it turns out to be a joke made with a lot of effort to make me laugh. “With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die” — Abraham Lincoln. We may not be able to see our family or control COVID, but at least we can make our family laugh out the window and enjoy this ride we are involuntarily stuck on.
At work, my friend and I talked through our marshmallow hazmat suits and our three masks. “Honestly, how are we not getting COVID?” she asked me. We both couldn’t stop laughing, even as she walked back down the isolated hallway with the screaming COVID patients mixed with a touch of dementia.
Some of the happiest people have grown from the darkest places. “The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter”— Mark Twain. So laugh through your pain and let your endorphins battle it out with your cortisol and epinephrine; irony is the art of balancing humor with tragedy and letting go of what is out of your control.