Giggle, Giggle, Chortle, Snort

When I think of “inspiration” I think of that cheesy song and I can’t help but sing it in my head, “You’re the Inspiraaaaaation…When you love somebody!”. And then those two lines and only those two lines get stuck in my head. I suppose finding inspiration in your parents is just as cheesy (but at least there’s no song stuck in your head). My parents do inspire me, in many ways. I’m not going to get all saccharine here, I promise, but my parents are pretty much the best.

Let me introduce you to my parents. My Dad is a botanist, all around scientist, and photographer with a rotten sense of humor that never fails to either make me groan or fall off my chair in a fit of giggles. My mother is a nurse, former ornithology student, and an all-around adventurer. Most importantly they are both children at heart. During our Sunday afternoon visits to their house, they often remind me that I am also a child at heart. Normally our visits are filled with laughter. I wish I could capture and share our Sunday-visit dynamic. I think I captured a bit of it in this short video of our family playing Dodgeball inside.

It’s the little things that make me giggle the most. This past Sunday, my Dad showed me a picture he took of a new bar in town because it reminded him of my Mom, named Kate.  I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. It was so ironically not like my mom and someone clearly put a lot of thought into that sign, though I can’t imagine what kind of business strategy they had in mind…

My parents inspire me to laugh often. For me, inspiration pops up everywhere.  I also find that talking to people, the people I see everyday, is inspiring. Listening to what’s going in their lives and what they are working on, can be a great source of inspiration. Currently my favorite source of inspiration is Pinterest. Where do you find your inspiration?