I Might as Well Laugh Now

Well. It happened. Our family finally has one of those stories.

I was in the pool with the other kids. Samuel was drawing at the table as Hannah was eating something. I came in after a while and found her sitting proudly in her chair, announcing the good news: "Samuel cut my hair!" I saw the scissors on the table. I saw the hair on the ground. I saw a lot more of Hannah's forehead than I had ever seen before. And I saw Samuel's sweet face, tilted to one side, with a pair of shrugged shoulders underneath. "Her bangs were too long! I wanted her to be able to see!"

At that moment, I had two choices 1) Get mad or 2) Look into the future and recognize that one day, I am going to laugh about this. So I might as well laugh now.  

I find myself thinking that a lot when I come upon situations like this. Even though I often chose to laugh, I have to keep my laughter on the inside for a while. I have to keep a straight face for long enough to scold them a bit so they know it's not okay to be naughty. But choosing to laugh now helps ME deal with naughty behavior better. 

One day I'm going to laugh about these short, messy bangs. I'll be sitting at a park with some friends or sitting on the sofa with my husband and we'll just laugh and laugh about this. So I might as well laugh now! No sense in being upset! 

(photos are a reenactment)