“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” ~ Dale Carnegie

In my humble opinion, life without fun and silliness isn’t worth living. During my search for quotes to start this post, it seems that many people would agree. Life without fun is no life I’d want to have, at least, and I am very happy to report that though there are times when I am serious, angry, frustrated, upset, or sad, I do have an abundance of fun! 

I feel that part of my love for laughter in the face of hardship comes from my father. 

I wasn’t always the easiest child to raise. I was dramatic, even as a young girl, with big feelings quite frequently. While I know it was trying, and while he wasn’t always perfect, there were often times when my father knew just the right thing to say to break the bad moods and usually bring about laughter. Even when they were really, really bad moods. 

Take, for example, the day in 6th grade when I decided that he had always wanted a boy because I was “ok, for a girl” ( a statement often said in our house from the time I was young, always meant as affection). Crying and sobbing into my parents’ arms as they comforted me and reassured me that I was just what they wanted and would never be replaced, and that I was perfect in their eyes, was needed. My father held me patiently, and when I would express something he found ridiculous, he would effectively stifle his laugh until he felt it was appropriate to let it out. I knew in his small chuckles, though, that I was being silly and knew eventually I would have to laugh at myself. The final icing on the cake for that conversation was the end of the comfort with the parting “you’re alright for a girl.” That is frequently a statement used in our house now and has morphed for me into a way to tell someone how much I love them, as well as serving as a reminder that sometimes you can’t take what people say too seriously. Tragedy to humor. 

Then, of course, was the day I got- quite literally- voted off my lunch table in middle school. I mean it wasn’t my fault all the girls boyfriends thought I was cute but maybe I could have been less of a flirt… needless to say there were lots of tears once more but my father and mother rallied to take me to dinner and after the necessary comfort was given I had to use the bathroom. Standing to leave the family, I just knew my father was going to be silly about it, and when I came back, of course, he had to jab that they hadn’t voted me off the table and that it was Mom who had said I could stay. That, too, is often brought up in our household, even to this day, in the form of “well, at least you didn’t get voted off the table.” 

Statements of “it could be worse, you could have a fork stuck in your eye” were frequently employed and many a time stories that could have ended with grumpiness or upset usually around some failure or another of his were accompanied in their telling by much laughter and drama and sometimes (often- lets be real here) a little exaggeration for as my Papa had said “you shouldn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.” This includes our highly exaggerated tales of woe involving the “Curse of Rain” that accompanies my father on every camping trip we go on, despite forecasts of clear blue skies. I swear we cannot take him camping without tarps and a shovel to build trenches, and at least once, there was a tornado.

And of course there was the ER visit on January 3, 2025, in which my father and I made the Nuerologist very unsure while laughing about my possible death and how that meant I’d get out of his basement finally and the tragedy it would be if what eventually killed me was not the brain death but rather the high winds we were experiencing at the times blowing the ambulance off the bridge on the way to the other hospital. Good times. 

Then, of course, there is my mother, who, though sometimes she tries a little too hard to be funny and misses the mark entirely, has often made me laugh over the years during times when it could have been easier to be grumpy instead. Long trips have been spent playing games, telling stories, or singing. Hours trapped in the dark because the power went out again, or a bill wasn’t paid, have been filled with stories, board games, and giggles. Times where trees downed power lines (dad is never allowed to chop down a tree again) and other accidents or situations in which it would be perfectly normal to be upset, were often faced with some level of humor on the side of my mother, who taught me that sometimes you just got to laugh. 

Flat tire?- Well, this is a fun adventure. 

Pulled over for not seeing a stop sign?- Man, you should get your eyes checked.

Lost an important item?- Let me use my superpowers to tell you where it is. Oh, I see it is in the last spot you had it. (Thanks, Mom. Helpful).

And let us not forget my first trip to Rochester, MN, to the Mayo Clinic there to get my recent diagnosis, which could have been a very serious trip indeed if it wasn’t for my mother, who decided we should get out and have some fun. The toy store in Kellogg, MN, was amazing fun, and I am not likely to forget any time soon the trainwreck that was Wizard of Oz on Ice in Red Wing, MN, that wasn’t even on real ice. It was PLASTIC! And of course, we had to drive along the Mississippi River on our way back to see the beautiful scenic views of dark nothingness at 11 at night. At one point, we laughed so hard it became unsafe to drive, and we pulled over, tears streaming down our faces, because sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself and the situations you are in. 

The central point of all of this is as follows: Life for me right now is hard. I don’t have any illusions about that fact. A large part of my brain is dead, things are changing so fast I can hardly keep up, and there are skills (like typing) that I used to be very good at that I am now struggling with immensely. Some days I can hardly get out of bed because my body is so tired. Sometimes I can’t speak because words just will not come to me. Life is hard.

But I can say with confidence that I know I will be okay because I know the value in play and that sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself. Laugh at the mistakes I know I am going to make. Breathe through the frustration and laugh when my hands decide they want to let go of what I am holding without my permission, just to see if gravity still works. Take a moment to laugh at the absurd gibberish I am typing because my hands don’t want to do what I ask them to do, or drift to the right. Take a moment to laugh at the tremors because I can’t stop hitting myself in the face with my hair, or look like a ridiculous cartoon character contorting in ways my body isn’t supposed to contort. 

Life is going to be hard, but I won’t achieve anything without having some fun with it. So Let’s Play!

-Dare. 

P.S. In the pursuit of fun while in these trying times and to keep up skills in something I have found to be important to me, I have once again started streaming on Twitch. If you ever want to join me there (And I would not mind seeing any of my readers in my chat) my twitch ID is Dare2PlayGames. While I do stream some games with adult content that is not for everyone, I also enjoy more family friendly games that are approriate for all ages and I will at times be discussing in my streams some of the hardships I expereince and the ways in which I overcome them.