not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

[lissie_pissie]

I saw the hardest possible laughter today when Munson dropped his sculpture. It was still in the working stage, so it didn't shatter, it just collapsed in on itself, into all of the dust and mess of the concrete floor, rendering it unrecoverable. Matt and I absolutely died, and it made me glow to watch because I know he's not entirely happy right now. His smile was HUGE and when he smiles that big, there's a little dent that forms in a curl just above his top lip from the stress of it all. He was laughing so hard that it was too much to take, he fell to the floor and ended up on his hands and knees, his face beat red and that beautiful dent. I should have taken photos. The mangled heap of deflated clay, Kelly's face when she walked by and saw it, Matt crawling on the floor. The piece was destroyed and over three hours of time had now been wasted, but the beauty that came out of it was so much more than anything that could have been finished and glazed. My abs hurt from laughing so hard, and that's art too - he set out to make a mediocre piece out of clay but instead created a masterpiece inside of me. I felt a hell of a lot more from that moment than I would have ever felt looking at the finished sculpture. The loss of it was worth so much more - whoever would have thought? Later on, I probably won't remember any of my classmates' completed and pristine boxes - I'll only remember this, how it made me feel to be surrounded by laughter and misfortune and sunshine and dirt all at the same time. I'll remember the perspective I gained from it, how clear life was at that moment - I knew what it all meant and what mattered.

Life isn't always the finished product, it's not always grand goals, it's not always wrapped up in things that make the newspaper, it's not always defined by documentation and perfection, it's this. It's things gone wrong. It's being able to laugh at yourself. It's understanding that something beautiful grows out of every tragedy. It's art and mess and spray bottle fights. It's Fun Dip sticks and chasing someone down the hallway just to get them wet.

I feel like the world would be a lot happier if more people understood this.