The World is a Happier Place With Humor:

“Goodnight guys, I love you!” I chuckled while still cracking up from the

events leading up to that. I had never laughed so hard in my life!

Earlier that night, in the brisk November air during my senior year of high

school I was taking a break from my college applications and watching a suspenseful

Lifetime movie. I was lying in my bed with the hot pink and zebra sheets pulled up

to my waist. My breathing and feeding tubes were also gently lying on the left side of

me. I was half watching the movie and half playing on my phone. About halfway into

the movie my dad came in to check on me.

“Hey Megs, whatcha doing?”

“Oh you know, watching an extremely suspenseful Lifetime movie,” I

explained while smiling and rolling my eyes, “how was the movie?”

“Oh, you and your Lifetime movies! It was hilarious—and I have great John

story.”

“Ohh yay! Let’s hear it…”

My brother John has Asperger’s, a high functioning form of Autism. So he

doesn’t necessarily mean to be funny, but some of the situations and stuff he says

are just hysterical! You have to be around him enough to “get” him.

Back to the story!

My dad starts explaining a part of the movie he took John to see, Dumb and

Dumber To. In one of the scenes, Harry was explaining to Lloyd that you pronounce

“subtle” like “sutle,” so the ‘B’ is silent. Following this scene, John proceeded to laugh.

Surprised, my dad leaned over and asked, “John, you got that?”

“Yes dad, it’s funny because you pronounce subtle with a ‘B’. This is why they

called it Dumb and Dumber To.”

“No, John, actually it’s not…” his voice got cut off.

“Dad, please I’m trying to concentrate!”

While my dad was finishing up telling me the story, we heard this blood-

curling scream…“AHHHHHHH DAD‼ HELP‼” We also heard this banging…bang,

bang, bang, bang. Within seconds we heard footsteps coming down the hall towards

my room. My dad and I looked at each other and mouthed “What the hell?” He

started to go down the hall to see what was up when John came stumbling into my

room in his Notre Dame pajama pants and his game day t-shirt (obviously a huge

fan), his hair astray and still wet from his shower.

“Did you not hear me screaming for the last ten minutes? I’ll have you know I

was locked in my bathroom!”

My dad and I exchanged curious looks and wondered how he got locked in

his bathroom…hmmm.

“John, how did you get locked in there?” my dad asked while looking

narrowly at him.

“I. Don’t. Know. It just locked on its on own!” John stated matter-of-factly.

“John you don’t just get locked in the bathroom. Is the door magic?”

“Apparently…I just said, I don’t know!”

“OK…how did you get out?” my dad questioned.

“I had a screwdriver in my bathroom, so I unscrewed the hing-ies until the

door came off…”

So. Many. Questions. How did he get locked in the bathroom? Why did he

have a screwdriver in the bathroom? How long was he in there? And what the hell

are hing-ies?

“John, did you mean hinges?” my dad asked

“No, I meant what I said…hing-ies!”

After this exchange, my dad and I laughed so hard that no noise was coming

out of our mouths…we pretty much looked like seals, ridiculous.

“Why are you laughing? I was locked in my bathroom!” John said while

pointing to his room. He stormed off in a huff.

While we were still laughing my mom came into the room thinking that

someone died because we weren’t making any noise, just crying laughing. When my

dad and I finally got our grip, we explained to her what just happened. She was

laughing as hard as we were, if not more.

John, still not knowing why we are laughing so hard came in confused, “I

really don’t understand why you’re laughing. It’s actually kinda rude! I got locked in

my bathroom!”

My dad explained that what he said, how nonchalantly he said it, and the

timing of it is what made it funny. And lo and behold! He still didn’t get it. But hey,

that’s John. If he got it, he wouldn’t be himself.

When my dad finished explaining this to him I was saying my goodnights, “Ah

John, I can always count on you to make me laugh, even when you don’t mean to. All

that laughing made me exhausted; I’m going to bed. Goodnight guys, I love you!”

People tend to ask my family questions like, “how do you do take care of all of

them and their needs?”, “what gives you the strength?”, “how do you remain

strong?”

Honestly, I don’t know, but with the sense of humor that my family has and

the situations we get ourselves into (even when it is a somber subject) we always

find something to laugh at. My life is better because I choose to laugh. I truly believe

that if more people laughed, the world would be a better place.