“Did you hear that?” My husband said.
“What?” I responded.
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“Laughter.”
“Oh, yes.”
I stopped for a few seconds and sat in silence as I dialed into the muffled sounds of my daughter and her friends laughing in the other room, pure unbridled joy.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that. They are being so silly,” he said with a smile.
“Like typical teenagers.”
“Exactly.”
It took me a minute to really understand what he was saying. It had been so long since I had heard my daughter actually being joyful, caught in a moment of sheer childlike humor. And I realized that none of us, including our children, felt like we had permission to feel joy during the pandemic. The anxiety, sadness and isolation dulled our ability to feel and express true happiness. And in a way, it is something we have to relearn. Not only do we have to figure out how to tap into those feelings again, but we need to be role models for our children. It’s time to climb out of the cave and head towards the light.
A few weeks ago, my husband and I and two close friends attended a live comedy show in Raleigh. It was the first such event I had gone to since the beginning of 2020. It’s hard to explain how good it felt to be with other people and to laugh again with abandon. I’m pretty sure it is the same for teenagers who are trying to reconnect with each other socially and remember what it was like before everything changed.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like flipping a switch. It will take time for us to feel comfortable enjoying things that have been ripped away from us for more than a year now. But I’m hoping it’s like riding a bike. You never forget how to laugh. And once you do it again, you will remember just how important laughter is to a happy life.
Amanda is the mom of two, a reporter for WRAL-TV and the author of several books including some on motherhood. Find her here on Mondays.