I originally wrote this story back in July/August 2014 which is now lost. I did not have a hard copy of it. I am not happy with this version. To me it is not enough. To me it is me trying to write as fast as possible getting as many stories out as possible. But, I know this story is more powerful than what I’ve written…so far…
On an airplane, going on vacation with my family to Florida. Headphones on listening away, changing channels as each time I got bored. Wearing my hand-made knitted sweater my mother made in that fantastic 80’s shade of pearl grey. I was in my own little world believing I was a grown-up.
When, I am suddenly surprised by some else’s drink landing in my lap. The stewardess quickly apologizes for her blunder and telling me the airline will pay for the dry-cleaning. Over and over, I’m sorry, they’ll pay for the dry-cleaning. Here I am with Coca-Cola and ice from my mid-section to my lap, I look up from my all-knowing-adults-don’t have-a-clue eyelids and slight disgust to say, uh-okay. But, I want to say lady, I’m only thirteen years old.
We arrive in Florida to be greeted by Hurricane Elena. Departing the airplane, I quickly became acquainted with the wet air of humidity. My mother had our route all planned in advance, however to stay ahead of the storm we had to change our plans.
Instead of having hotel reservations waiting for us, we ended up at dive motels along the road. Our trip to Walt Disney World was cut short as the park closed due to weather. It was hard to stay out of the rain. Everywhere we went it was raining, so it was just like being back in Oregon except it was hotter and more humid. The only consolation on the trip was Bill Cosby.
It started on the airplane Bill Cosby: Himself was playing on the airplane, it was on the radio, and it was on television in the hotel rooms. We listened to it over and over again. It seemed we all agreed on it. After another long day of rain, and sunshine, and August Florida humidity, and the joys of family vacations we ended up at a small motel along the highway watching Bill Cosby: Himself, again.
We were all tired and exhausted, yet laughing here and there. Something happened that night. While I was laughing – the whole world suddenly stopped. A moment frozen in time with my mother, father, and brother in mid-laughter. A multitude of images swirled in my head as I saw the neon glow of Motel reflected in the pool’s water outside, the leaves along the edges and bottom of the pool, the chair and table my brother was sitting at, the dubious cleanliness of the shag carpeting, where the car was parked outside our hotel door, the color of the night sky, the glow from the streetlights along the road, but what I really and truly saw was my mother, father, and brother for the first time. Not as a parent or a sibling, I saw them as their most beautiful selves.
Because something happens when you laugh. It is the greatest opening to a person’s soul while laughing. It was the first time my family became real to me. Not that they weren’t real before, it was the first time I got to see them as something more.
It is a moment I know with certainty existed. It is a moment that happened. It is a moment I have shared every chance I get because in that moment I was hooked, I was addicted. If it was possible to see my own family differently than the same must be true for everyone else. Every chance I could I would try to make other’s laugh. Oh, but not just laugh or giggle it’s that breaking down of walls and barriers laughter that sheds a person exterior to reveal the real beautiful within. I have loved it my whole life. The sight of someone’s true self reveled through laughter. There is nothing else that can compare to it.
I will be forever grateful to Bill Cosby for that moment he gave me while being himself.
WE - DO NOT AGREE! 