Yes, it IS twisted. That’s why I’m laughing so hard.

Two former sewer rats on a hike

The hardest I’ve laughed this year is when Shrek let me write a bio for him.

I included a brilliant two truths and a lie and spent the next hour or so laughing until it hurt. In fact, I was laughing so uncontrollably that I almost drowned. Life hack: don’t get a shower until the giggles pass.

Rudely, no one besides Shrek and me even found the two truths and a lie funny. No one. Not a single person. Sam just looked mildly disgusted and said, “Don’t put that on the Internet.”

But my joy? Effervescent. Bubbling over, even.

The second hardest I’ve laughed this year is when Shrek and I were hiking in Asheville and I realized that my brothers and I used to play in the sewers as children.

WTF Mom? The sewers?!

But, same story: I laughed and laughed, delighting in the absurdity while praying that I wouldn’t pee my pants.

The year before that, it was an absurdist meme account that got me. Sam watched, perplexed, as I choked on my laughter, fighting to draw a breath. “I’ve never seen you laugh like this,” he said. Then, sass-pot that he is, he added, “Also, these memes aren’t funny. I don’t understand what’s going on.”

But boy-oh-boy did I find them funny.

Just like the year before that when I saw a local political candidate reassure his Facebook friends that he’d survived the attempted poisoning. Could. Not. Control. Myself. No one tried to poison you, brah. And this post is hilarious.

Once again, no one else found it even mildly chuckle-worthy, but there I was: in stitches.

Oh, humor. What a fun part of the human experience.

I had ideas that I intended to explore when I set out writing this, like the shamanic plan I have to up my “laugh until it hurts” moments from yearly to weekly, but I don’t feel like going there anymore. Instead, I want to sit here laughing, enjoying these absurd moments that still delight me.

So I’ll end with this note: if anyone else’s sense of humor revolves around absurdity with a touch of darkness, please (please, please, please) come to my mom’s house for Thanksgiving. I’ve never won a game of Cards Against Humanity in my life and I want to (friend: “I’d really love to pick your card because I see you dying of laughter over there, but I don’t get it. I don’t see a single card in the mix that’s funny.”).