Unwanted Chuckles

Bug and I laugh a lot.
It's refreshing for me to have so much laughter in my days. Bug loves to laugh at TV shows and often asks me if I'll sit with him during a half hour comedy show. He says it's funnier when there's someone else there. I love watching him laugh. When he really gets into it, his whole body laughs.
Many times, however, Bug laughs when he doesn't want to. His reflex is to laugh in uncomfortable situations or during sensitive conversations .
Oh!
He gets so frustrated with himself when this happens.
It's like that scene in the old Mary Tyler Moore Show from an episode voted as TV Guides' #1 funniest. It's the one where Mary is at Chuckle's the Clown funeral and she gets a fit of the giggles. Finally when the parishioner overseeing the ceremony gives her permission to laugh, she bursts into tears.
Bug doesn't cry when he gets his reflexive laughter, but he sure can get annoyed with himself.
Bug spoke to his doctor about this at a visit some time ago. He was hoping the doctor could help out with a pill or something. Unfortunately the doctor said it was a part of his nature and he would have to cope with it. He did suggest that Bug take deep breathes when he feels it coming on, but it honestly doesn't make much of a difference.
I try to be patient with Bug when this happens and often his laughter can diffuse a potentially tense of difficult situation. Many times I join in with his laughing and we both have a joyous chortle together. Often it shifts my mood to a more relaxed one and whatever was bothering me doesn't seem so pressing.
But, other times it can be frustrating, especially if I start talking about something meaningful or sensitive. It can kill a conversation when the one I'm speaking to begins to laugh. Bug's face turns red as he tries desperately to stifle a laugh and he gets pretty disappointed with himself.
This uncontrollable laughter has cropped a few times when we're having... uh... intimate moments in the bedroom. Often at these time we can turn Bug's laughter into a joke and continue with our intimacy, but there has been the odd time that it's killed the mood. This can make Bug really mad at himself.
We're learning to live with it more and more. I'm learning to drop a conversation or at least not have as much emotion invested in it. Bug works his darnedest to keep the laughter at bay.
A lot of the time we both let the laughter flow and enjoy the sensations it brings to our bodies.
Bug is an amazing guy and his humor is one of the many facets he brings to out relationship.

Until the next time...