It's Okay to Laugh (23 page)
Read It's Okay to Laugh Online
Authors: Nora McInerny Purmort
Just before we were washed clear across the park, my mother reached out and grabbed a rowboat and canoe from the curb of a neighbor's house. In defense of my neighborhood, this isn't actually how my neighbors store their watercraft, it's just one of those weird dream things. My mother took the rowboat, and I climbed into the canoe, where she tossed me a paddle and began to row her boat against the churning water, making slow progress toward my house.
I tried to follow, but paddling a canoe is a job for two, and I couldn't get myself turned in the right direction.
“I can't do it alone!” I cried, but she shook her head.
“Just paddle!”
she shouted, and I felt my little vessel push back against the current trying to wash me away.
T
hanks to my big dumb family for giving me a childhood that was both charmed and traumatizing. I almost forgive you for forgetting that I played the saxophone. But not quite.
My mother is the definition of a bad bitch. Madge, thank you for showing me how to be a woman, for always (eventually) forgiving me, and for loving me mostly unconditionally.
Aaron was the best thing ever to happen to me (sorry, Ralph) and I will carry him with me forever.
Steve taught me to love reading and writing; he was a ruthless editor even to a child. I think he would be proud of this book and also appalled at some of the content, which is about par for the relationship we had.
My best friend, Dave Gilmore, has been a thoughtful reader since 2001, and has picked me up off the ground more times than I can count. I'm sorry for when you tried to teach me guitar and for every time I picked the movie.
To the coven of women who are there for me every day, thank you.
It takes a whole damn village to raise a child, and I'm lucky to have one. If you watched Ralph so I could write, or go to yoga, or get drunk . . . thank you. If you read my blog or wrote me an email or hugged me in public; if you're my Internet troll: thank you. Haters are my motivators.
Julia Cheiffetz believed in me, and I'll always be grateful to have had her guidance and patience. Thank you for getting me, and for laughing at my jokes.
Jessica Regel is an actual angel. Look it up.
Dana, none of this would have happened if it weren't for you. Thank you.
Ralph, thank you for being on my team, and making me a mom. Please stop telling me not to sing or dance, it's starting to hurt my feelings.
NORA McINERNY PURMORT
was voted Most Humorous by the Annunciation Catholic School Class of 1998. It was mostly downhill after that, but she did get to spend three glorious years married to Aaron Joseph Purmort (aka Spider-Man). Her work has appeared on Cosmopolitan.com, Elle.com, and the Huffington Post, and in the
Star Tribune
. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her son, Ralph. They really like it there.
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IT'S OKAY TO LAUGH.
Copyright © 2016 by Nora McInerny Purmort. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-241937-8
EPub Edition MAY 2016 ISBN 9780062419392
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