Woo Woo

By Pauline Evanosky

As adults, we typically don’t believe in magic. As kids, the first thing we want to learn how to do is to successfully execute a magic trick with cards or pull a rabbit out of a hat.

My one magic trick was to make my thumb disappear. My grandfather taught me and that moment, that one moment in time is embedded in my memories of him. He would also pop his eyeball out and put it in his mouth, but I considered that trick gross when I was six years old. I still cringe when I think of it.

But ordinary, grown-up magic? I can’t say I’ve ever really seen it although David Copperfield sure has given everybody a run for their money through the years. Also, there is Houdini. Don’t forget about him.

The kind of magic I’m talking about is laughter.

If it is a kind of inclusive, laughing at yourself sort of laughter it can put an exchange between people on an entirely different footing. It is so magical that I think nobody really notices.

Basically, I think people are good at heart. Even the bad guys. Hey, somebody must have loved them once.

When I think about a soul, I think they are all good. Although there are times when I have to stand back and wonder what happened to a person to have them act the way they have in this incarnation. Mass murderers and despots come to mind. You do know what they say about Karma. I believe in that. Sure, we have laws, but I also know there are times when people are not held accountable for what they have done. At least in this lifetime. Karma takes care of that if mankind does not. Personally, I have a feeling God doesn’t care. It’s just a feeling.

Maybe it comes down to thinking good and bad are just the same sorts of lessons. I have noticed when I don’t take care of some issue that comes up to repeatedly taunt me year after year each time that situation makes a reappearance in my life it gets harder and harder for me to deal with. If it is one of those “life lessons” it can get dicey.

I think the best policy would just be to address whatever you can at that moment in time and hope for the best. If it didn’t work completely then you can work on it more somewhere down the road. There is a rule out there that all you have to handle is what you can handle. Take care of the business at hand and it will make you stronger later on when it comes up again.

There is also the consideration that when you are afraid of something things begin to morph and get all magnified. Magnified terror is no laughing matter.

How do you identify a life lesson? I think, bear in mind I am no expert on this, but I think a life lesson is important and my experience of learning is that I never seem to get it right in the first go. I have to practice. I have to highlight. I have to write notes. Also, the older I get, unfortunately, the more likely I will lose the thought. My sister told me at one time our father had post-it notes covering the cabinets in the kitchen of his house. I can emphasize.

But laughter cuts through all social pretenses. You just go immediately into a relationship with another person if you are connected with laughter. The social do-si-do is gone. The I’m better than you is thrown out the window. Laughter is an equalizer. That’s what happened when I had a hot flash at work and told the person on the other end of the phone that I had to take my clothes off. She understood immediately and we laughed in menopausal camaraderie.

Sleeping with another person can do that too. It’s like your sleeping minds dance around intimately with each other even though you don’t necessarily engage in sex or snuggling. You don’t know what happened when you awaken but something is different. Somehow you are on a different footing.

Another thing that can create a bond between two people is cooking together. I think that would be a fun thing to do.

I suppose it helps to get older too. An older person, I think, begins to look more at the quality of life and not the quantity of life. Face it, older people don’t have as long to live as somebody in their twenties if all you’re looking at is longevity. Maybe people get more psychic as they age. That would make sense to me. The wisdom of age. Maybe keeping up with the Joneses is just not important anymore.

I feel laughter is important for us even if we don’t understand why. It’s like the icing on the cake. It’s just better. Sprinkles help too.