inside joke

Where have I been all these years that I haven't heard about this "classic" game?! I have to have a party one of these days just to play. The reason why I took this picture was because it made me laugh out loud as it reminds me of an inside joke Brittanie and I share. So let me share this game and some personal humor! Though I don't know exactly how or when it began, Brittanie began telling random people (at our old church mostly) that I was deathly afraid of bunnies! It would work best when rabbits, or wildlife in general, would come up in conversation and then Brittanie would say to the effect of, "Did you know that Stephen is terribly frightened of rabbits!?", and before I could fully give my rebuttal, the other person would ask, "Really?! How come, Stephen!?", and then Brittanie would continue to interrupt and explain on-the-spot some farfetched improvised story. I would bow my head in defeat and just laugh and watch the people's reactions believing every word of what she was saying. Or, if I would interject her false claims, she would say that I was denying the truth because I didn't want anyone to belittle me! When a rabbit would appear on the tv, she would cover my eyes and loudly tell me not to look! And people would again question! To see this game, it just made me laugh so hard to think of what she would have said out loud if she was with me that moment! Her antics would have been fueled!

Inside jokes, like this, make me think of the bind people share with memories. It doesn't take much to recount a tiny story that fills a person with so much laughter and joy (or conversely, deep sadness), just a silly activating stimulus. The connectivity people share can be found in what is seemingly meaningless to others around. When a split-second sight can bring back a tidbit of time, it dawns on me that every moment in life counts and it matters how I live every moment of life--to remember how beautiful it all can be in good or bad times. In the midst of frustrations, I can better understand how trite my worries can be in the grand scheme of things.

Tonight, Brittanie met with her best friend, Amy, who left to teach on an island for a year and is back on the mainland for the summer. As they talked and laughed, I couldn't be happier as they shared where life had brought them, where they last left off, and healthily talked about their past and what little things make them crack up, things that brought their connection so close early on in their friendship.

Perhaps that is why I love blipfoto so much--it preserves memories, thoughts, inside jokes and so much more. Daily life is far from being mundane.

-SFR