Cricket Pitch.

It isn't an infrequent occurrence for someone to make some comment about how often I laugh. The most common comment being that I don't just laugh a lot, I laugh most of the time. It's never said in an insulting way, or even in a way to make me feel awkward, mostly it is said with curiosity. It is stated in a way that implies to me that most people don't find half as many reasons to laugh as I do, and even if they did, they wouldn't have the energy to actually laugh. How on earth do I do it?

How on earth could I not?

My every day, normal life is filled with countless moments that end in laughter. Sometimes those moments are complete surprises, other times they are planned to the finest detail, whether by me or the comedians around me. Either way, when the laughter comes, it comes and it doesn't apologize.

The second most frequent comment about my laughter is with the voracity in which I laugh. I hardly ever giggle; quiet, moderate laughter isn't something I do naturally. I laugh with my entire self, and the intensity of my laughter is the proof. I'm an open mouthed, eyes squinted, body trembling sort of laughter. It bounces off walls and echoes across the world. My laughter doesn't apologize for its arrival or its volume.

What strikes me as most odd about the comments of my laughter is that it is something that catches people attention so strongly that it becomes a sort of normal topic of conversation. Why would the frequency in which I laugh be anything of note? Do people really laugh that infrequently that I'm the abnormal one? It seems like it should be the other way around.

And if we're being honest here, which I have no reason not to be, I have a very strange sense of humor. It's dark but cheesy, twisted but sincere, goofy but adult. It's a million different things which makes in incredibly easy to find things funny. I laugh because my body knows no other way, and really doesn't want to.

Laughter isn't just involuntary contractions of muscles and organs; it is so much more. It is a cure for your sadness, for your heart-break, for your anger. It is a magnet that draws people together; the more they laugh, the stronger it pulls. It is an instinct, a hobby, a way of life. It is the purest most reliable aphrodisiac. It is the glue that holds you together when you're falling apart. It is a melody, a rhythm, song and dance. It is one of the most enjoyable, near death experiences one will ever endure; gasping for breath, aching in pain but loving every moment of it.

Laughter is beautiful.

Think about it: laughter is so important to our way of life that the first time a baby laughs, we write it down and then try without exhaustion to make it happen again and again and again.

So yes, I laugh a lot and I do it loudly. It may even be noteworthy. But can you really laugh too much?

I can't.