So Funny

Why is it so funny when a person falls? I think I have had more of the gut wrenching, tears flowing, can't breathe kind of laughs when a person falls than anything else. A friend of mine told a story yesterday about a fall she took in the Subway parking lot. She fell right in the path of traffic so a car ended up having to wait for her to move in order to go forward. She scraped her knee. She was so embarassed that she had to get in her and go somewhere else to get food. Then she was so traumatized from her fall that she honked at a lady who was sitting still at a traffic light which was red at the moment because she "thought" it was green. When she realized the lady was stopped at the red traffic light, she burst into tears.
What do I do when my friend relays this story to me? I laugh. I mean the can't breathe, tears streaming down my face, bending over kind of laugh. I couldn't help it. I am picturing the events in my mind and just laughing. It helps that I've been witness to some of her other falls therefore my imagination didn't have to do too much work.
I have another friend who has had some funny things happen to her. But the one story I remember the most - her falling in the parking lot of a grocery story. There is a small hill by the little league ballfields in Sparta that every time I go by it I think of this guy at work who told a story of falling and then sliding down that hill. Hilarious! Another friend told a story of falling when her heel got caught in her pants, right in front of the John Deere store. I remember being a kid and watching the old Jerry Lewis movies, old slap stick comedy movies and TV shows and laughing so hard until my stomach hurt.
One of my most embarassing moments was a fall. In Junior High chorale, we were practicing for a presentation. We'd practicing a song about some river rolling on as well as a couple more songs. It is the day before and we're practicing how to enter, line up on the stairs of the stage and then exit. I am the lead in person for the top row. I come in and walk up the stairs and then start to walk across to the far end. In my dress shoes on the carpeted stairs, tragedy strikes. I slip and fall and then begin to roll down the stairs. As I look up, I see the chorale director coming to try and catch me. Oh no....this is bad but in Junior High, it is really bad. He fails to make it to me before I actually land on the floor. And what can you do after a fall like that? Laugh with everyone else that is laughing! And you know the song they were playing as I took my tumble - yep, the one about the river rolling on. Geez. And on the day of the performance, I prayed the entire time I walked up and across the steps and I wore different shoes.

Still...something about falling just makes me laugh.