My Husband the Writer

I'm so very proud of my husband, Budd Wilkins, as his short story, Fearful Symmetry has been published in this month's edition of WordCatalyst Magazine, an online magazine for creative expression.  Fearful Symmetry is a dark, humorous psychological piece that I, of course, as his biggest fan, think is just great.  I'm not the only one who has made this assessment.  I invite you to visit WordCatalyst, poke around, and have a look at Budd's story. 

One of the hundreds of things I love about Budd is his wicked, lightning-fast wit and sense of humor.  He has the ability to make me (and lots of others) laugh harder than ever before.  And he can trigger those laughing spells in me that I can't control or stop at will. 

Over the holidays, we are housesitting for his parents, and I'm just like Goldilocks - I can't find a comfortable place to sleep.  I'm also like the Princess and the Pea in that regard.  So, last night, after deciding which bed to sleep in, I'm lying there trying to go to sleep, and he caught me at just the right moment and said something funny.  I began to laugh, and I could feel one of those laughing fits coming on.  My immediate reaction to this is to continue laughing while begging Budd, "Stop making me laugh!" because it hurts my stomach, I can't catch my breath, and the laughing is just uncontrollable.  Here's how it went:

Tina: "Hahahahaha, stop making me laugh hahahahah!"

Budd:  "Ingmar BERGMAN! Ingmar BERGMAN! Existentialist DOOM!  Oh, the AGONY of EXISTENCE!" (in his best acting voice)

Tina:  "HAHAHAHAHA (uncontrollable laughter) STOP, it HURTS to laugh!"

Budd: "A-HA!  Now you KNOW what Bergman was trying to tell us!  Laughter is really PAIN!  You might think it's joy, but it's actually TORTURE!"

A few minutes later, I said something about the bed covers not being on me right (Princess and the Pea syndrome, I call it), and he said, "Well, they were all right a few minutes ago before you went into...(pause) paroxysms of mirth," which of course, made me laugh even more.

I'm sure when anyone reads this, it might not sound nearly as funny as it struck me.  But I giggled on and off throughout the night when I thought of our exchange.  And I thought of how blessed I am to have someone who can make me laugh until it hurts.  You should see him when he walks down the hall carrying my cane and does his Nicholson/The Shining impression at the cat...."I'm NOT gonna hurtcha, Kitty....wait, you didn't let me finish my SENTENCE...."