In high school I was made fun of for two things mainly-my big frizzy hair, and the fact that I laugh all the time.

My hair isn’t the same as it was, but I still laugh all the time. People used to ask me “Why do you laugh all the time?”…what in the world do you want me to say to that? I don’t know, why do you ask annoying questions?

Since moving into this independent retirement community, I have heard about two things constantly: my beautiful hair, and my cheerful laugh.

This has taken some getting used to, and really made me uncomfortable for a while.

It’s like, if you lived in a culture where everyone had small noses and laughed at your huge nose, and then moved to a country where everyone wants to have a big nose and talks about how pretty you are all the time. For a while, it feels like they’re making fun of you.

So, when a group of people start talking about how they always know where I am because they can hear my laugh down the hall and then they all start laughing, it’s sometimes hard not to say something like, “Yeah? Well, so is your face!”