Hi. My name is Andriena Baldwin and I’m an addict.

I have finally come to terms that I do have a problem. But it’s not drugs, or alcohol. Nor, is it something that could possibly lead to a road of disaster.

I have recently decided to check myself into an imaginary chapter of Laughers Anonymous.

It’s been said that laughter is good for the soul, so my spirit must be my healthiest component.

After all, it’s not my eyes since I need “corrective lenses,” and it’s definitely not my nose with my array of sinus problems and allergies.

It’s not my knees or legs which suffer from ankle ailments and injuries caused by shin splints. And I can guarantee it’s not my sensitive tummy which gets upset just by the sent of onions.

Yup. It’s official. My soul is healthiest thing about me.

One of my favorite things to do is curl up on my sofa for a night of Family Guy, Comedy Central and the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

Cartoons, stand-up comedians, television sitcoms, anything. If it makes you laugh, I am there.

I hope my apartment’s walls aren’t thin, because if they are, my neighbors probably think I’m crazy at the sound of my solo chuckles and giggles.

There I am, by myself, laughing my heart out. Sometimes I laugh until I cry, literally.

Laughing is good. Most of the time. Sometimes, I think things are so funny that I can’t control myself – no matter what the situation may be.

For instance, my friends and I were in the mall one day. The four of us were in a store looking at items on the clearance rack. At random moments, we do this thing when one of us would pick up a hideous item and tell another one of us that we should buy it.

Now, we were in the store, playing this little game when things went all wrong.

My friend Shannon picked up a shirt which looked as though it had been run over

by a lawnmower and chewed on by piranhas before someone decided to spray paint it.

She held the shirt up over the rack and told me that I should purchase the item for myself.

My friend Camille then added to the sarcasm of the situation when she says, “Oh, yea. That’s cute.”

It was at that moment, a woman came from the other side of the rack with an armful of clothes and said, “Yea, I know. I liked that too and I’m getting it for my daughter.”

As my friends and I stared at each other like a deer in headlights, no one had anything to say. That is until my cheeks began to fill with air from holding in my laughs.

As the rest of my friends gave me the “Driena, you better hold it in” look, it happened.

I let out one of the biggest laughs in my life. I laughed so hard by stomach cramped. But I wasn’t laughing AT the woman, I was laughing more at the situation we had gotten ourselves into.

There was no taking it back, as the woman stormed off to the cashier.

Once she was out of the store, my friends began to laugh hysterically, unfortunately for me, I was already done.

I wish I could have held it in, because my friends tell the story to people over and over and over again, making it seem as though I was just plain rude to the woman.

But I can’t take it back, and I’ll probably never see her again. To this day, only one thing bothers me. I wonder if she purchased

the shirt anyway.