Chore Card Humor

😂
When Jason was 15 years old, he broke his neck.
While lying in traction, his dad, Stephen gave him something called “chore cards.”
Everyone in their family had chores and he was no different.

On those cards were listed tasks that Jason was required to do each day as he recovered.
His chores.

He had to listen to motivational cassette tapes (this was 1986), pray often and read scriptures about faith. He had to remember his strengths and visualize his goals.
And he had to watch or listen to something funny.
Every day.
A movie on VHS. A comedy routine. A recorded television show. Whatever.
Something funny every day.

Eleven years later, Jason was lying in a hospital bed again. This time I was there. We had been married five years and Jason’s front tire blew while he was driving on the freeway.

That wreck began a 13-month stay in the hospital. And more than thirty surgeries over the next ten years.

When the doctor told me that both of Jason’s legs were crushed from the accident, I said, “Well, it’s a good thing he wasn’t using them!”
Ha. Ha. Nudge. Nudge.
Quadriplegic humor.

🦗Crickets.🦗

The doc didn’t think that was very funny.
But it WAS funny.
And if Jason had been awake he would have told the joke himself!

Humor diffuses the hard thing. It doesn’t take it away, it just softens it a bit. Makes it more bearable.

It’s a strategy. It can lighten the load and ease the burden.
Yes, we used it even when we were dealing with some pretty serious stuff.
Maybe especially then.
It didn’t mean we weren’t serious about it, we were just more serious about laughing our way through it.

Yesterday I watched Jimmy Fallon’s home edition of the Tonight Show as his daughter climbed on his head during the monologue and then chanted “toilet paper” off-camera.
It was funny.
I laughed and showed it to Coleman.
He laughed, too.
Because funny is awesome. Funny helps.
✊🏻💙