A Laugh With Your Friend Is The Very Best Kind Of Therapy

We may be grown-ups with serious responsibilities, but life doesn't always have to be serious. IT SHOULDN'T BE.

There's so much sadness and worry around us—some days my twitter feed makes me want to hurl my laptop out the window. I suppose I could just shut it off. Whatever. I tend to air on side of the dramatic. The point is, sometimes a laugh with friends is all we need to clear our heads and remind us not to take life too seriously.

Despite feeling low one night, I met up with a group of teacher pals for drinks. My friend asked me to hold her glasses since they wouldn’t fit in her teeny purse. She looked over at one point to see me straining to read the menu while wearing them. I don’t wear glasses. She reminded me that she NEEDED them to be able to drive home adding, "For god's sake Thornbury, quit being an ass and put them back in your purse." So I did, but as soon as she went to the ladies room, I promptly brought them back out and we took photos of them posed around the bar. We may have made “spectacles” of ourselves, but we also laughed really hard and it felt good.

When the band started up we were the first group on the dance floor. Quite a sight—two pregnant mamas grinding, two ladies doing their shtick where one carries the other’s leg like a purse as the other hops on one leg likes it's completely normal, another tricked into dancing with some very drunk man while we mocked and made no effort to save her and of course, we took out and dusted off the classic 80s dance moves (robot, shopping cart, etc.) to the shock and awe of onlookers.

Back at our table, sweaty and heaving, we discussed the following:“Is there something wrong with us? And, when will we start to feel/act our age?” This conversation was frequently interrupted by rude text messages being sent from one phone to another e.g. “U might wanna do something about that spinach in ur teeth.” Or “Don’t look now but guy at bar is checking out your ass...and laughing!” I know for a fact that we are not the only group of 40-something women out there who act like this. Where are the rest of you idiots and what are you doing next weekend??

We have busy families, hectic jobs, personal struggles. From time to time it’s liberating to put real life on hold to relive the carefree days of youth. Even if we’re not “technically” youths, or youthful or young. Fine, we're in our cougar years. Grrrrr.

I don't see my girlfriends nearly enough. NOT EVEN CLOSE. Some of my friends, really good ones, I barely talk to. I don't like it, but such is life. For now anyway. We're busy. Busy, busy, fricken, busy.

However, it's comforting to know friends are there—an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, an arm to carry my leg around like a purse. If I need them, or if they need me, busy don't mean shit. Sometimes friends are the best kind of therapy.