Friendships Made by Laughter

Through failure I was able to do something great. I found the brightness in the dark. Although it took me awhile to be able to be myself around my fellow peers, when it happened it was never ending laughter. Making people laugh until their faces turn red and you don’t have a voice anymore or having people make you laugh is a great way to bring others that were once so far away, closer to you. For me laughter ran away with my very last soccer season ever in high school and with that I had learned how laughter and excitement could turn acquaintances into close friends.

During my very last season of high school soccer was very rough. It was rough because my playing time was not guaranteed for every game because I lacked speed, a very important piece to good soccer. At first I was hurt and confused about how people would take the situation. I did not want them to pity me or not acknowledge me because of my lack of speed. It took me a little while to figure out a way to make things better. And that way to handle this situation and make things better was to make the best of every moment I had with my fellow teammates. It all started on the bus rides back home from soccer games that took about an hour and a half just to get back to the schools. On the bus rides home I felt I could be myself and be noticed by my team. For once I could shine with people that I had tried to be like for years. It was my place to shine bright in the world of laughter. After many years of failing to fit in my, senior year was the last time to nail it.

Every bus ride back from a game we would play this little game called “The Sound Game” now I’m not exactly sure how it all started but it sure won’t end anytime soon. The concept of “The Sound Game” is to mimic a certain sound and/or expression that someone is making. The way you win this game is to mimic the sound/expression best and pretty much get the most laughs. Whoever wins the round gets to make the new sound for the next round and so on. When it was my turn to pick a sound I tried to make the funniest sound or expression that I could possibly make. I did this just so that I would get the entire back half of the bus laughing so hard their abs tightened. I liked to make the deepest voice possible and say the funniest phrase to go along with it. After every away soccer game all of us girls would come back with no voice, a sore throat, and a six pack of rock hard abs that would soon be covered in pudge after we got home and devoured anything we could find. It was then that I had realized laughter can bring everyone together, it is something we all have in common.

As I dealt with the failures that I had as a soccer player being as hard as it was I actually enabled myself a whole new experience which I had never done before. I could just be myself and everyone loved it. I learned a valuable lesson this past soccer season and it is to find the brightness in every darkness. The failure that got me here was well worth it and I would do it all over again if I could. I’m glad that I decided to deal with the problem in a way that made everyone enjoy it.

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