Abbe’s Ruminations August 2023

Welcome to my newsletter, Abbe’s Ruminations. I mull, contemplate, ponder – old and new experiences, finding what I call the joy and laughter of repetition or the abandonment to not knowing.

Sometimes taking the backseat in a situation places you front and center into the position of seeing what isn’t obvious. This is when improvisation takes over and the best fun begins.

After witnessing an intense swimming competition, on the return, I sat with Paige, the competitor, and her sister Lane.  We sang silly songs over and over from movies I hadn’t seen.  Apparently, my question, who is Peach, elicited this reaction. 

 The two girls thought my question was highly amusing. Belly laughs, till the tears came.  Nine, Six, and Seventy, our age differences bound us together, they shared, I learned, we laughed.

The other night I was asked to emcee the 7stories Friday night event.  A simple task of  reading a script of thankyous and introductions.  The night turned into a comedic event after the first storyteller, Mike, offered his misadventure in a foreign country when he sought fertility advice.  “Filling the cup”, was not easy, or explaining why.   After his rendition, the primed audience found my frustration with adjusting the microphone to my height, the subsequent drooping, and my only comment,  that this mic would never fill the cup, hilarious, and sent them into a fit of laughter.

You can’t plan laughter; it comes spontaneously when all sense of oneself dissolves.  Laugher comes from a place of comfort, where everyone is at home.  

There is no trickery in laughter. Light shines through and overcomes barriers. This is freedom at its best, where walls fall away, and stresses disappear. 

Recently I’ve been wearing the face of joy.  This face is my old friend and I welcome its return. Strangers on my long walks comment on my smile as we pass one another.  My only explanation to this phenomenon is that  light flows through me with the joy of laughter and as  awe of life’s simple pleasures streams forth. Not because I’ve willed it into a comedic performance, but because it spills forward from what I feel inside.

Each day I leave room for awe, the spontaneous moments of connection.  I have structure and goals. The weight of the world still exists  but not as a cloud that bears down to block my way.  Laughter lightens the heaviness,  creates flexible walls that bend with the ways of the young, old, and situations.

I wish you all a belly laugh of lightness.

Abbe would love to hear from you. You can reach her at her website, https.//www.abberolnick.com.