the hand fruit

On Monday night I lay in bed, catching up with one of my best friends, Ryan, on the phone. He works in a very fancy restaurant in Boston and was sitting at the bar of the restaurant, after it had closed, sipping a vodka-soda, telling me about the enormous, several-thousand-dollar truffle in the restaurant's kitchen.

"You should totally eat it," I teased.

(Laughter) "Oh my God. Could you imagine if I just took a bite out of it like it was a fucking hand fruit?"

"What is a hand fruit?"

"You know, like a plum or an apple. Fruit you eat with your hands."

"I think you just made that up."

"No way. People have been saying that for years."

(I paused to do a quick Google-search)

"No, Ryan, according to Google, they have not."

(This, by the way, is all I could find on "hand fruit.")

"Dude, Gab, I totally just made up hand fruit."

(Pause.)

(Peals of hysterical laughter from both coasts.)

We laughed for at least five minutes straight. Tears streamed down my face and I clutched my stomach in the fullest whole-body laugh I've had in as long as I can remember. Eventually we had to hang up, but I fell asleep giggling.

The best thing about something so utterly hilarious that it inspires such an intense physical reaction is that it doesn't fade quickly. Since Monday night, as I've gone about my daily tasks--driving to work, paying my bills, cooking dinner, etc.--I've periodically remembered Ryan and the hand fruit, and laughed out loud. (Note: the man behind me at the bank today did NOT think it was cute.) It's made the past week great, if for no reason other than the stream of endorphins that are likely circulating my brain, due to the multiple belly laughs I'm having throughout the day.

Now, you may not think that the story of the hand fruit is all that funny, mostly because you are probably not best friends with both Ryan and me, (unless of course you are Emily Barratt, in which case you probably still don't think it's very funny). Having tried to retell the story of the hand fruit several times since its birth, I've learned that Ryan and I are probably the only ones who are amused by it. That said, I hope you have something in your life that makes you laugh out loud on a regular basis. It's truly a superior way to live.

(In the absence of your equivalent of a hand fruit, go here.)