I’ve been told my whole life that I have a great laugh. It is very distinguishable. It’s got some cackles, some wheezing, and some big boisterous belly laughs. I love to laugh. It’s rare to not see me with a smile on my face, ready to tell you the dumbest joke I recently heard. My laugh is so very recognizable when I’m in public. Once I went to see a movie in an old timey movie theatre in my college town. The theatre was called The Lyric and it had this really cool balcony. Once I was seeing a movie, and a friend later told me, “I knew you were in the movie theatre with me, because I heard you up in the balcony laughing.”
People whom I haven’t seen in person in YEARS remark on social media how much they love my laugh. It’s nuts. Well it’s even more nuts now because I have a permanent reminder on my arm.
That’s right, I got a tattoo of my laugh.
Here’s a brief backstory
In 2018 I was on skype with my roommate and she made me laugh. It was a complete surprise and she totally caught me off guard. She was literally in the other room and she was helping me troubleshoot some recording software. I was recording our conversation from skype via audacity for a podcast interview later that evening.
And there in the recording was my laugh.
Not a set-up manufactured laugh, but a pure, natural, laugh.
I thought omg, I have to get this tattooed. So I did. Like an hour later Jen (the very same roommate, who has many tattoos) took me to a tattoo parlor to make my appointment. And then exactly 24 hours later I was getting the stencil of my spectrogram (sound wave) inked onto my forearm. It still seems unreal to me as I look down at my arm.
Every time I look at my arm it reminds me to smile. It reminds me to take a moment to find joy and laughter in everything. It reminds me of the positive impact that I have on those around me. It’s an everlasting reminder to laugh. To laugh often. To laugh loud.
With everything going on in the world today I especially need that reminder now. I’ve been trying to stay off of social media lately because it’s been…well A LOT. Between Coronavirus, the 2020 election, climate change, and the stock market my head starts spinning after 10 minutes online.
Be intentional about the content you’re consuming. Step away from things that actively make you feel bad. And remember to laugh.
Find any excuse to laugh, and laugh LOUD.
I love your tattoo! How gray is that!
Great!
The stencil was gray, but the tattoo itself is black. So all the gray sections in the stencil are filled in with black ink on my arm.