Liz Curtis Higgs
About the Author

Former Bad Girl, grateful for the grace God offers. Happy wife of Bill, one of the Good Guys. Proud mom of two grown-up kids with tender hearts. Lame housekeeper. Marginal cook. Pitiful gardener. Stuff I love? Encouraging my sisters in Christ—across the page, from the platform, online, in person. Unpacking...

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
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Comments

  1. Liz,
    My daughter and I were both given the gift of an easily tickled funny bone. We clip comics and share them with each other or she is always sending me clips of hilarious videos she finds on the internet. We both love to watch silly comedies and laugh at all the stupid lines. It’s a special bond that we have. I’ve also tried to teach her the importance of being able to laugh at yourself and not take yourself too seriously. Laughter is a gift and a balm to the soul. Thanks for sharing your faux pas…they made me chuckle because I could so see myself doing that…
    Blessings,
    Bev

    • Bev, just reading about your relationship with your daughter makes me want to know BOTH of you better. You are so right: laughter IS a wonderful bonding agent!

  2. In the middle of testing the kiddos and I needed this laugh. (my 12 year old is an eye-roller. And a mini-me.)
    Love your heart and the way you tell a story!

    • Yes, Marina, we truly CAN survive those teen years! It’s heartening to look back at this incident from nearly a decade ago and realize how close my daughter and I have become. SO grateful.

  3. I’m a laugh person. I was called the queen of giggles in school when I was a teen. I could not stop laughing. Laughter is the best medicine for a good health. So, I’ve had a good and happy life and I love to laugh but it irritates people cos they are not happy, I think.

    O well, I’m happy.

    • I confess, I’ve often felt sorry for people who seldom smile and never laugh out loud. Bless their hearts. Definitely not the way we’re doing life at the Higgs house. Glad to know you’re right there with me, Karyn!

  4. I love this story! By watching my husband interact with our 12-year-old daughter, I’m realizing that humor really is a great antidote to preteen angst. (I just need to use it more often myself!) I’m glad you added that, 10 years later, you and your daughter are still smiling. Now THAT is truly encouraging!

    • I promise, it’s the truth, Lois. In fact, I had my daughter read this post before I submitted it, to be sure I got all the facts straight. When she laughed again, remembering everything, my heart was filled to the brim. Yes, a GREAT antidote for preteen angst. (Actually, adult angst too!).

  5. Your words make me smile this morning!
    I don’t take laughter for granted when shared between my daughters and I. It is truly a healing balm and gift that soothes away the hard times.
    BTW, you have a GREAT laugh Liz!

    • Proverbs 17:22 reminds us, “A cheerful heart is good medicine”…SO TRUE! Not sure when or where you heard me laugh, Caryn, but I’m tickled that you remembered it. (Could be the volume…)

  6. This gives me great hope. The bond between my daughter and I, though strong, is so strained since her father and I have separated. I’m hoping the eye-rolling 19-year-old love of my life will once again allow herself to be knit back into my heart. Rejoice always.

    • Kathy, I hear you, absolutely. Praying with you for that important relationship to be fully restored. Time, love, and laughter are all good healers. And God is the greatest healer of all.

  7. Liz,
    Your post brought such joy to the start of my day.

    As I miss my own daughter I appreciate that we are able to laugh over the times I have done some annoying thing.

    Thank-you and blessings for your humor and soulful heart….

    Penny

  8. Laughter is how I decided I wanted to date my husband. I didn’t know I was set up at a Christmas party to be eyeballed by my husband. I just thought I was attending a Christmas party with my girlfriend. I happened to be the only single woman there at the party, all the other single woman who were invited could not make it for one reason or another.

    When I arrived, I acknowledged my unbeknownst to me future husband since I recognized him as attending the same high school as I had. I was in a different part of the room during the party and I just listened to his brother-in-law and him tell stories for most of the night. The whole room including myself laughed till our stomachs hurt for most of the night.

    When I was asked to give him my phone a while later, I was shocked since we had not talked, but I had noticed his sense of humor, and I had laughed at his stories! So, since I trusted my girlfriend, and I had laughed, I decided to go for a date with him. The rest is history.

    My husband and my grown son have the same sense of humor, puns and stories, sight gags. I tell one-liners, but we still laugh.

  9. Liz, This is great! I love to laugh with my little 😉 girl and boy (30 & 26). We love to laugh together until we are all crying AND Snorting. The laughter has helped ease many tension filled times through the years. Just like it did for ya’ll in Japan. Blessings!

  10. Liz, I loved this story. I have two preteen boys, and we’ve already dipped toes into the “You don’t know anything, Mom!” pool. Sigh. Laughter is a beautiful thing. God gifted me with two boys who are very ticklish. Sometimes, if one is starting into “a mood,” a little tickle can swing it around before it becomes a full-blown mad. Sometimes they even ask for a “tickle fest,” which always brings smiles to both our faces.

    I so appreciate the reminder to take myself lightly. Laugh at what they find funny in some of the things I do. Thanks for sharing your story!

  11. I am THEE WORLDS PICKIEST EATER and this had me in stitches! I have always been terrified to travel the world, because of the food, so I haven’t went anywhere, that’s how horribly picky and scared I am of different foods. I love that this silly moment will last you a lifetime and it wasn’t planned or forced, it just happened and that’s the best kind of memory!

  12. I loved this! Having survived 2 teenagers, I now watch them deal with their own children, which is quite entertaining! Thanks for sharing such an encouraging story…

  13. Liz, I just loved your story so much. Since our son had to move back with my hubby and I. Our son makes me laugh so much and my husband too. I love the laughter and I think it is great for the soul! Our three beautiful grandchildren make me laugh too! It is wonderful! God bless you for all you do! Love, Barb

  14. I love this post! Laughter is my number one coping strategy and has gotten me through infertility, crazy shots in the butt, adopting a screaming toddler overseas, and diffusing the extreme tension between my kiddos. My husband teases me because my laugh and my cry usually come out at the same time, kind of a blend of the two, a wailing, hiccuping thing. There’s nothing better than a belly laugh for getting the whole family to stop, regroup, and heal. Thanks for this hilariously sweet story.

  15. Liz,

    So glad to see you writing here at In(Courage). I love your books and your humor. Humor takes the yucky out of a day!

    My husband is a rather serious person. Every now and then I will start a pillow fight and off we go laughing into the night!

    Loved this story!!! 🙂

  16. As the teen years loom larger and larger, this brings me comfort and hope. It also inspires me to take a trip with my daughter. What a great post. Thank you.

  17. I love this story!! And oh how I love to laugh with my family! Most of my favorite memories include times when we’ve laughed together we almost cried. Like last winter when we were snow tubing and my tube didn’t stop at the bottom of the hill. I couldn’t touch my feet on the ground because I was going too fast so my tube kept sliding, backwards…past the rubber stopping mat, over the small incline and down the steps to the treadmill-like contraption that takes everyone back up the mountain. The loading dock dude just looked at me like I was crazy as I bounced down the steps squealing and laughing – 20 feet away from where everyone else had stopped!

  18. Liz. I love you. 🙂 I’ve heard you speak but not read your words. I can’t wait to though. God bless.

  19. Oh, Liz – thank you so much for your light-hearted, humble perspective. I love to laugh (although I’m still learning to be better at laughing at myself!), and am so grateful for a God who seems to delight in humor and joy, too!

  20. Oh I love this post. My daughter is 10 and I know I’ve already lost some of my cool factor in her eyes, but I am praying that we will always have sweet and joyous moments like the one you shared. Precious.

  21. I just read this and I really needed to hear it. My daughter is 20 and we have been very close after we struggled through years of academic learning difficulties and strong-willed battles. We have had a great relationship in the last 7 or so years, but now that she has started college and lives away from home much of the time, there are times when I feel as though she is an adolescent all over again. I know that she needs to have a little more distance to mature into her independence, but it can be hurtful to feel irrelevant. Your words give me hope. We are headed out on a month-long extended family vacation, so I’m hoping we will have lots of laughter together that will bring us close again.

  22. Those times we peed our pants a little are always laughable later but at our most raw times when they happen. Finding joy in the aweful pee-stained pants of motherhood.

  23. As a single mom, I scrimped and saved every penny, but when Bill Cosby came to town – I knew my prodigal son and I had to attend. But the money for the tickets? Really? God reminded me that my son would remember the memories we made together rather than the amount in my savings account. So I bought the tickets and we laughed with Bill Cosby until our faces hurt. It was a healing evening for both of us.

  24. Great story. Brings back many memories! I lived in Japan for 12 years, plenty of time to committ many cultural faux paus! I love to laugh over memories.

  25. Good memory among family table speaking and laughing for also réally nothing. Or gréât story of childhood.