‘Laughing baby’ goes viral
When you watch the clip of baby Micah laughing hysterically as her unemployed, stay-at-home dad rips a rejection letter, you're bound to start laughing, too. The baby's laughter is irresistibly funny. It's one of those videos you want to share with others as I did Tuesday when I found it on Shine from Yahoo! and decided to watch it. There was more to me, however, then just the contagiously funny laughter of that little baby. While baby Micah is obviously laughing at the ripping sound of the paper, her father is laughing because of his daughter's obvious joy and delight evidenced by the belly laugh.
Think about it. Surely the father couldn't feel so great after getting this letter, yet he turned his attention away from his troubles and focused on taking care of his little girl. Instead of falling prey to the words of that letter, he basically scoffs at the rejection by unceremoniously tearing it up to the delight of his baby.
It reminded me of when my husband was laid off his job at a commercial barge company in the Louisville, Ky., area in August 2009. The job loss was devastating on many levels and Kentucky, like so many other states, had been hit hard by the recession. After trying to find a new job in Kentucky for nine months, my husband finally had to start looking outside the state and fortunately we ended up in Texas.
That nine-month period of unemployment was stressful and while we didn't have a baby like Micah laughing hysterically, we did have someone else who made us laugh when we needed it the most: our border collie, Jerry.
Whether Jerry gently put our hand inside his mouth trying to lead us outside to play Frisbee, or if he decided to herd my cats into a corner much to their disdain, Jerry was able to make us laugh and usually when we felt at our lowest points in the unemployment process.
I would like to remind those who are unemployed to look for those moments of laughter in their own personal lives. Sometimes it's easy to see as in the cases of baby Micah, sometimes not. But I'm certain it's there for all of us in one way or another.
Think about it. Surely the father couldn't feel so great after getting this letter, yet he turned his attention away from his troubles and focused on taking care of his little girl. Instead of falling prey to the words of that letter, he basically scoffs at the rejection by unceremoniously tearing it up to the delight of his baby.
It reminded me of when my husband was laid off his job at a commercial barge company in the Louisville, Ky., area in August 2009. The job loss was devastating on many levels and Kentucky, like so many other states, had been hit hard by the recession. After trying to find a new job in Kentucky for nine months, my husband finally had to start looking outside the state and fortunately we ended up in Texas.
That nine-month period of unemployment was stressful and while we didn't have a baby like Micah laughing hysterically, we did have someone else who made us laugh when we needed it the most: our border collie, Jerry.
Whether Jerry gently put our hand inside his mouth trying to lead us outside to play Frisbee, or if he decided to herd my cats into a corner much to their disdain, Jerry was able to make us laugh and usually when we felt at our lowest points in the unemployment process.
I would like to remind those who are unemployed to look for those moments of laughter in their own personal lives. Sometimes it's easy to see as in the cases of baby Micah, sometimes not. But I'm certain it's there for all of us in one way or another.
Posts
