Giggles

When our daughter was eight, she’d have one friend over at a time. On a Saturday, a little friend would come over for the afternoon, and for four hours, they would giggle.

They’d eat a snack, look at each other, and burst into the tinkling sound of little girl laughter. They did not need a reason to laugh, the joy and silliness just bubbled out.

As the girls age, they still giggle. Our daughter is almost 10 now, and when she has a friend over, there are frequent bursts of laughter for no apparent reason. The laughs are deeper now — not as high pitched and airy as an eight-year-old giggle. The giggle fits are often inspired by a boy somewhere in the vicinity: our son, or his friend if he has one over.

I remember the days of giggle fits, where I’d start laughing and couldn’t stop. And then my mom would say, “Some one turned Andrea’s giggle box over,” and I’d laugh even harder, until tears streamed down my face and my abs felt like I’d crunched 100 sit-ups.

A laugh that goes so deep you forget what you’re laughing at, and that lasts so long it hurts, is one of the best feelings in the world. I hope our daughter has thousands of them.

Photo credit: Bubbles by pandajenn1234.

For the month of November, I will be participating in NaBloPoMo and plan to publish every day of the month. Usually, I will publish a 10-minute free write, initiated by a prompt from my prompt box. Minimal editing. No story. Just thoughts spilling onto the page. Follow along with the tag #NovemberDaily.