“From a seed a might oak grows.” The ‘Mighty oaks’ quote is a 14^th Century old English proverb. Sometimes it begins with just a scribble.

I found a word document buried deep in a hard drive with just the title of this post, as if I put it there for some future me to water.

I have reached a point in life where I have begun to think about legacy. This is an illusive notion and its importance depends upon why you leave it. If you create legacy so you will be remembered, don’t try. If you create it so your words and your world will be discovered, you might be on the right track.

From the first great gulp of air, we begin this life crying and at the end we’re sorry we remember all the tears but none of the laughter. It is because we haven’t learned to laugh. There’s nothing sweeter than tickling a baby. The laughter is involuntary but only our sense of touch is the cause. Before us lies the opportunity to choose laughter, to learn laughter.

I spent most of my life learning to laugh, but regret that I wasn’t able to master its application. Not too long ago, a friend died. In memorium I wrote: “

Sterling was ridiculously funny. There is not another person on the planet that could make me laugh the way he did. He would find a tiny little string inside a conversation and pull it, and the sweater would begin to unravel. And like making music, he not only had a sense of the phrase, but a larger sense of beginning and end. It could be a symphony of funny. I would laugh so hard I would collapse into coughing, wheezing, crying…

Life was comedy for him. He would find funny in the oddest places. He found funny in his family, when he wasn’t exasperated by them. And then, he would turn the exasperation into funny. When his folks were alive and he was caring for them, I would call him on the cell. “Sup homie B” If he had either mom or dad in the car, he would say: “Just out drivin’ Miss Daisy….”

I could always count on him to bring the funny.

So turn that frown upside down. Watch a storm pass and don’t worry about getting wet. Just revel in how funny you look standing in it. Jump in a puddle, swing on a swing, and always remember to share the story. When you have learned to laugh you find that it is something you receive and something you give away. Laugh long and hard at this silly state we call being human. Bring the funny, but most importantly, BOLO.