I remember my mother would sometimes utter this when our jollity tried her patience. She in turn learned it from her (dour) grandmother, who raised my (often ornery) mother. With the right provocation, granny would warn my mother, "laughter leads to tears," and then swiftly act to fulfill the prophecy. Smack. Of course, this was back when people paid heed to the Bible's admonishment to not spare the rod, thus spoiling the child.
Where the ranks of our 113th Congress are concerned, too many parents spared the rod it seems. I'll refrain from naming which members I think could benefit from a sound spanking today, or why. During times like these — when it's mostly noise and not news — what works best for me is to turn off the TV and avoid reading much about the situation. After all, I'm powerless to affect the outcome in the short term and we have yet to see what all this means for the long term. Why be bored with/enraged by the unfolding minutia?
Mostly I'm avoiding, but to the extent I am engaging with the political drama this October, I'm choosing to laugh instead of cry. I am laughing at a certain caucus and network instead of laughing with them, and I do feel a bit bad about that. But I think I'll get over my guilt... maybe not a guilt shutdown, but at least a guilt "slimdown" as Fox News likes to chirp these days. How do they come up with their nonsense?!
I came up with my painting subject this morning — I thought his expression would be a good challenge, and let's face it: many try but no one gets huffy like the English do. And by the way, last week's subject liked seeing her unexpected portrait and... it made her laugh!
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