Hahahahahaha

“Hahahahahaha …” my 6-years-old boy giggled.

I looked at him, caught surprised.

“Hahahahaha …” he giggled again. In an instant, I was infected by his laughter, “Hahahahaha … “ I giggled too.

“Hahahahaha …” my 8-years-old little girl, sitting at the back of the car, joined us.

After a short pause, I turned and looked at him again. Our eyes met and, “Hahahahaha …”. We all laughed, again, louder with each round.

The rounds of laughter were started by the simplest of remark on a most ordinary incident.

We were driving through heavy rain. As I overtook a slow truck on a two-lane road, the truck went over a puddle of water and caused a big wave of water splashing onto our car’s left side, where my boy was seated at the front. Casually, I said to my boy, “Wah! Lucky you had the window up, otherwise the water will make you wet.” My boy looked at me, thought for a short while and burst out giggling.

I was surprised by the outburst.

The remark was not meant to be a joke, an observation on what might have happened at best. But his laughter of pure and innocent happiness out of the simplest of happening caught me by surprise, not for the first time. And the subsequent laugh-pause-look-and-laugh-pause-look-and-laugh brought me great happiness.

Lately, my little boy and me are sharing more and more of this spontaneous instance, where reproduction in any form to anyone but us would fail to describe the feeling of the moment.

I truly enjoy and cherish these special moments with my children. Though, I can’t remember having many of this special moment with my little girl, for whatever reason. Though I must admit, I have a very short memory span. Probably, as my little girl is getting older, she is having more questions and uncertainties regarding everyday happenings, or probably pressure from school is getting heavier each day. She seems to be less carefree than my little boy during his age. Or probably my little boy is just more playful. It will bring me great joy and comfort if I can inject more carefree spirit into her being.

At that particular moment, laughter drowned out the sound of pattering rain. To me, heaven came upon us in that car, and worldly thoughts had not a single gap to fill.

Words would fail me in trying to describe my happy feeling from these moments that we share. But, assuming there’s no negative implication to my loved ones, I could have just died at that point in time, and have no regrets. Truly.

I am a simple man.

Now that I didn’t die at that moment, I will pray and hope and wish that for years to come, I will get to enjoy more of these spontaneous moments with my children, and that we’ll be laughing so heartily into their teenage years, or maybe even adulthood.