This post would probably be more appropriately titled, what I don't find funny…anymore. It was like a bucket of ice water thrown at me to realize what I had exposed my daughter to today. In the past my friends and I have laughed ourselves into tears reading the Facebook posts with the autocorrected texts gone wrong. I mean can't catch your breath laughing at them. Of course they only make Facebook because they are dirty or sexual autocorrects.
Today my friend tagged me in one of those posts so I would see it. I allowed it on my timeline without even thinking about it. As I was reading it later of course I started to notice that I didn't find them as funny as I used to. In fact I am ashamed that I even finished reading them. As I was about half way through them, my sixteen year old daughter sent me a screenshot of part of the post asking me why something was so funny (we were both in bed so we were texting each other). I told her that I didn't know but it was (I admittedly did find a couple of them funny…sad to say), but that she probably shouldn't read the rest because they were pretty bad. I wasn't paying attention and the message didn't go through. I realized about ten minutes later that it hadn't sent so I sent it then. Of course by that time she had read them. I know that I can't take responsibility for her reading them, she had a choice. But, I could have minimized the chance of her running across it by not allowing myself to be tagged and therefore allowing it on my timeline. Parenting lesson learned there.
It was interesting for me to note that my sense of humor has somewhat changed. I am a nurse and as such the human body is often the source of humor in my profession. It hasn't made me uncomfortable for a long time. Because I had numbed my emotions so much there were few stories/jokes I found uncomfortable. I love that I am starting to recognize and feel the warning signs that things might not be appropriate. It's going to mean that I won't be able to join in the laughter as much anymore, I'm okay with that. I have such caring friends at work that I know they won't make me feel bad and I will try not to make them feel bad. I hope I will even have the courage to speak up and ask that "dirty jokes" not be told around me. It will be a huge step because I don't like risking offending someone or being judged, but like I said I have amazing friends. It will be a good chance for me to practice vulnerability.
Not laughing,
T.
I understand what you mean! I find that what I find funny has changed so much over time. The more I experience all of this, the more sacred I see intimacy and the body. The more demeaning I find jokes about it, especially when the humor reflects how much women are the object of all these jokes. Life just isn't the same!
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