Laughter

When is the last time that you had a really great laugh? You know, one of those laughs where your cheeks and sides start to hurt, you are gasping for breath and tears well up in your eyes? For me that took place this afternoon when a lovely winged mammal decided to enter our office. For those of you who didn't know...Austin, TX has the largest colony of Mexican Free Tailed Bats in the world, and many people make the trek to our fine city to watch these creatures during the summer months. Before I get to the meat of why I am writing this post, let me share with you the events of the day...

Before heading to lunch, I heard this terrible noise coming from the foyer of our office. Upon inspection, this was actually just the guttural sound of my co-worker who noticed our furry friend hanging out next to our awards display case. We figured that it was dead, and we would have the issue handled once we returned. Walking back into the building we quickly realized that our guest was alive, and that we should probably work to release him back to the wild. After a quick search on Google for the appropriate bat removal etiquette, we sprang into action with our trusty cardboard box and video camera.

As you can see...that didn't go all that well, so we resigned ourselves to picking up the phone and calling animal control. While we waited the bat began to terrorize us, at one point trapping us inside of our office by maliciously taking roost on a decorative chair right in front of our office door.

(Again alerted to his presence by Tricia's screams)

Finally the animal control officer arrived, collected our friend, and we have been able to someone re-focus and get back to work today. Throughout this entire experience however Tricia and I found ourselves laughing. Whether it was at each other, the fact that we had this potentially rabid wild animal in our office, or the stupid videos that we were making while documenting this harrowing experience. Laughter is the great remedy for most things and on this dull Tuesday it was just what we needed!

I haven't laughed that much in a LONG time! It used to be almost a daily occurrence when I was in college and teaching, because I was constantly surrounded by funny things. Laughter used to be something that I took for granted because I expected it every day. After making the move 1,600 miles away from home to work a job with limited interaction with other people, I have come to treasure laughter. Any physician will tell you that laughter does wonders for your physiologically. Laughing can lower blood pressure, increase oxygenated blood flow and reduce certain stress hormones. However I think that laughter goes beyond blood pressure and burning calories; laughter strengthens relationships, promotes communication and is universal. 

Make sure that you surround yourself with people, things and an environment which allow you to laugh. Take a few moments each day to call your best friend and chuckle over a funny story or share pictures/videos of your misadventures (much like I did with the bat) to help others have a laugh. Laughter makes the people we are around and the world that we live in better. Seek out laughter and help others experience it's benefits!

Keep laughing,

Austin