I am so thankful to be part of a family that has a sense of humor. Especially about the less genteel aspects of life; namely, farting. I firmly believe that all families can be divided into three categories:

1. Families Who NEVER Laugh About Farting.
These families treat farting as though it is some sort of shameful practice, along the lines of witchcraft or dog-fighting. If a person is in one of these families and lets it rip in front of the others, he or she is immediately shunned until proper penance has been done. I believe it's sort of like when someone Amish uses electricity, but more severe.

2. Families Who Occasionally Laugh About Farting.
These families laugh about farting, but only a little bit and just in passing. It's tolerated, but not encouraged. These are the kinds of families where there is a lot of hugging and talking about feelings, but not a lot of mockery. I'm pretty sure these are the people they hire to be in commercials to sell car insurance and dryer sheets.

3. Families Who ALWAYS Laugh About Farting.
I don't mean to say that families have to laugh about farting to have a sense of humor, but, well, they kind of do. I mean, it's not like a person can help it. Sometimes, you just have to let it fly. Why not embrace it? When we were little and someone would cut the cheese, my Mom would look at us disapprovingly as we rolled on the floor in laughter while trying not to die from the smell. My Dad would then remind her that even babies laugh at toots. Babies. Now, babies are not typically evil, unless you are in a horror movie, so how can a little gas pollute your soul? The air, maybe, but not your actual soul (you knew that was coming). It took a few years, but my Mom came around, and now it's kind of like a contest. I'm pretty sure I have the burping part down, but I think my Dad still wins when it comes to farting, especially if you consider tone to be important, which we do. Outsiders, like my husband, are generally shocked and horrified at the competitive level we've achieved, but I'm pretty sure they're just jealous because we're having way more fun than your average family. All of the time. We're also generally gagging from the horrendous stench that someone just let loose from a place that smells suspiciously like the bowels of Hell (but really, it's just from the regular kind of bowels, ha ha ha). There is also a lot of mockery, but that's a different topic.

Holy cow. My family is AWESOME. You should definitely be jealous.