I put on some music to lighten things up. A favorite song came on my "Happy Morning" playlist, so I stood up and started dancing beside Hannah.
I was bringing out my best moves to make her laugh. She was doing her best "Our mom is so weird, and I'm a bored pre-teen" look. I knew that look meant she was really close to laughing.
She knew I knew, so she redoubled her efforts. Soon, I saw her beginning to smile. She tried to cover it by saying with a smirk, "Are you OK?!" She knew I knew she was right on the edge of laughter.
I laughed and kept dancing.
Then Hannah looked over at Emily, who was sitting in the corner across the room. It was that "Are we really related to her?" look young teen sisters give each other. I saw the look as Emily needing some of my brand of sunshine.
So, I took my moves on over to Emily without missing a beat. Emily suddenly adopted a scholarly look and pretended to be extremely interested in her homeschool lesson. So, I worked it harder and harder (and looked stupider and stupider) until she busted out laughing.
I looked back at Hannah, and she was laughing too.
"Mission complete!" I thought. Happier than a chicken singing her egg song on a beautiful morning, I started walking back to my computer to get back to work.
Then, very dryly, Hannah quips to Em, "Well, we know her coffee has hit her."
It was my turn to get the gift of a belly laugh!
