March 4, 1999

Mutual Laughter

Now, I have no right nor reason to claim any sort of expertise on the fickle subject of relationships. so the following comments can be taken with whatever number of atoms of sodium chloride you prefer. Laughter, the chanson of humor, is simply one of the greatest purveyors of human intimacy. Telling a successful joke and inducing guffaws from others fills a person with an amazing feeling of success and glee. Natural jokers tend to hang around people who they can often humor.

However, this by no means means that the world's greatest joke teller and the champion laughter will make a good couple. In fact, they probably would not. Neither would two big jesters or two easy chucklers. The best couples are those that are about equal, but more importantly, they are mutual laughers. Somehow, these two share the same intuitive senses and know how to exactly trigger each other's humor center. One jokes, the other laughs, the other jokes, the first laughs-- both joke, both laugh, both laugh, both joke. It all works together.

For those who really can't see what I'm talking about, look at the couples you know who have lasted for a long time. They will most likely be mutual laughers. And anyway, mutual laughter is just another way of exhibiting natural chemistry between two people.