are you laughing, too?

I mentioned on Monday that I went to see 21 Jump Street with my mom and brother. While it was hilarious and we all enjoyed it, I left the theatre feeling happy for another reason. (No, not because I had just spent close to 2 hours staring at Channing Tatum, although that was nice.)

Big belly laughs and giant guffaws surrounded us in the theatre. We, too, laughed, and my eyes watered at some of the especially funny moments. But what really made me smile was catching my mom, between her own chuckles, looking over at me and my brother. Any time something funny happened, she laughed and then looked over at us to see if we were laughing, too.

It made me recall another time that I had sat in a dark theatre with someone. The movie we saw was fantastic, but I found myself watching the person I was there with almost as much as I watched the movie. I loved seeing him smile and laugh.

In the theatre Saturday night, I had a realization. It was something I had known before, but now I had a context, a way to frame it in my mind.

When we care about someone, really care, whether it be a family member, a friend, or a lover, we're just as concerned about their happiness as we are our own.