Laughter

Spunk is a highly valued commodity in our household.

You might have noticed that.

Fortunately for him, my husband is irresistible -- in a dark, exotic, Vulcan kind of way. So no, he didn’t sleep on the couch – or, worse, in the nursery – after his little hijacking last week. I just grinned at his obvious delight and mentally filed away my newest “get out of jail free” card.

It's been this way ever since we met. Corey and I are both feisty, affectionate people. Our style of relating to each other is not for the timid or the thin-skinned. We delight in the duel of wits, and nothing sparks laughter between us like a joke well played or a line perfectly delivered.

A few weeks ago, I came downstairs after putting the kids to bed to find that the screen door leading to our deck was only half closed. The glass door was shut, so there was no real danger. But the screen, on the other side of the glass, had been left half open.

Danger Will Robinson! Danger! My faux-OCD tendencies went into overdrive.

I headed straight for the door, with the intent of shutting the screen all the way and thus realigning the very universe.

I also happened to look, out of the corner of my eye, at my husband, who was making coffee nearby.

He was smirking.

My direct route to the door took a detour so I could flick him on the back of his head.

He told me that he had shifted the door on purpose just to see how long it would take me to notice. He figured it would take about one minute.

It took me about 5.8 seconds.

Amateur.

So this relationship, that's full of pizazz and humor and wit? It works for us.

And what a gift the laughter has been.

When I look back over our 15 years, I see that the laughter that drew us together initially is also what held us together during the dark years. Even when our marriage was dry and dusty, even when we weren't communicating on any level, even when we saw each other 10 hours a week, we laughed together. We always laughed.

We didn't listen. We didn't love. We certainly didn't like.

But we laughed. It was a powerful bond.

God knew what He was doing.

I'm in awe of His good gifts.

Even when they hijack my blog.

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."
- Psalm 126:2