Uncontrollable Tears and Laughter

Write a 245 word piece about the last time you cried

Paul, you want to know the last time I cried? 2 days ago, when my son did an imitation, but I can’t share that.

Instead, an outpatient procedure:

I have a high pain threshold. If I say it hurts, anyone else would be screaming. As a child, a brick flowerbox full of dirt fell onto my knees; I was hospitalized with severe bruising and couldn’t walk. In 2016, I had a left hip replacement; 10 years later, a left knee replacement. Ouch, yowza pain.

But…high cholesterol runs in our family. A gastroenterologist suggested a liver biopsy for a ‘baseline.’ The surgeon explained the procedure. It would be performed under full anesthesia, and the surgical site would be packed. I would need to stay for a bit, but it was an outpatient procedure. 

Cool. Understood.

I awoke to excruciating pain in the right side under the rib. Worse than anything I had experienced. The nurse checked on me as tears rolled down my face. “It hurts,” I mumbled, tears still falling. Rarely do I cry. I couldn’t stop these tears.  The surgeon came, examined the surgical site, and said everything was fine. Did she think I was a big baby?

The nurse turned on the TV, saying, “Let’s try some distraction. Would you like some chocolate pudding?” I nodded yes; she brought me 2. I ate them both, watched TV, and the nurse was an angel who knew exactly how to comfort me in my pain.

365 word piece about the last time you laughed

On the America’s Funniest Videos show the other night, one scene reminded me of an incident of mine. I usually don’t like that show because it distresses me to see people get hurt. Most of the idiots who send in their videos show stunts where people are likely to get injured. Those make me cringe.

I often start laughing and try to tell my husband what is so damned funny. I laugh so hard that the words won’t come out. In disgust, he says, “I can’t understand a thing you are saying,” which makes me laugh even harder. 

One of the videos showed people riding wheeled or motorized objects and going through fences or hedges or off a ramp into a pool – all stupid ideas to begin with, stupid because someone could get hurt – stupid because they are unsafe and not thought out well (see how my mind works?) – there were maybe 2 that were funny. Funny because of the situation and because no one got hurt.

One showed a guy doing his unintended stunt, and he became stuck between a fence and his wheeled vehicle.

A quick blip went off in my brain, and then I burst out laughing. A vague memory of my own incident began to form and slowly came to the forefront.

“Remember the time, Oh*&*&Hahaha@#^%R^%&*^&” was what my husband heard through my guffaws. “I can’t understand a thing you’re saying,” he said. More laughter from me as I tried to tell him the story.

“Do you remember the time I got stuck?” I finally said after laughing.

At first, no, but then he started to.

“We had a futon couch, and I laid it out to double size and then lay on the side by the wall. Remember?” 

Now he’s nodding his head. He remembered. More peals of laughter came out of me; I sucked in a huge breath and finished. “Remember? It moved, and then I was stuck between it and the wall! I called you to help me, and there I was, stuck between it and the wall, and I couldn’t get up.” 

“Yep, I remember.”

“And some large Samoan guys bought that futon couch from us.”

“Yep.”

Copyright © 10/27/2026 by Andrea O. Corwin