How could I invite lightness and laughter into my day today?

As a generally melancholy-prone person,
humor
doesn’t often find a natural home in me.

I remember,
when I was a very little girl
noticing
that my mother laughed differently
in polite society
than she did
when something struck her funny,
and I asked her about it one day . . .
she seemed confused
and embarrassed,
and even though I was quite small,
I knew the question
made her too uncomfortable to answer.
But I sensed that the ‘polite society’ laughter
was contrived
and not real.

Now that I am a grown up
I realize
that I do the same thing,
and laugh in public
to fit in . . .
it’s like a mask,
because I do not naturally laugh
very much at all.

Genuine laughter
only really comes
when I feel comfortable and relaxed,
when something is really funny,
and I know that I need more of it
in my life.

I have an old, coffee stained cartoon
from an old psychology textbook
stuck on my refrigerator . . .
it is a Far Side cartoon–
a drawing of a trail of geese crossing the street.
Following behind
is a man in an overcoat . . .
the caption reads,
“imprinting gone awry.”

The cartoon
is especially funny to me
because as an animal lover
I have been told
that I am more
cat or owl,
deer,
crow or rabbit
than I am human . . .
like I’ve imprinted on animals
instead of humans.

What can I say?
Books and films
that are comedies
just don’t generally attract me,
but odd little things
do tickle me,
so there is lightness there,
somewhere inside of me.
I just need to find a way to draw it out.
Any ideas? ♥