Laughter is the best medicine. If that doesn’t work, try pie.
Do you laugh every day? I grew up in a family with a lot of dysfunction, but we also had a lot of laughter. I take after the Maruska women and we have loud, hearty laughs. As such, I laugh often and I laugh loud and I laugh proud. What a shock to realize that not everyone does this. There are so many people who don't laugh on a regular basis and it breaks my heart. Don't they know that laughter is the best leveler and healer there is? What better than sharing a laugh to put some perspective around something painful and difficult. And I don’t mean cracking jokes during an inappropriate time or situation. But how's this? When I was 24 I had my tonsils out and nearly died. Tres embarassing! I ended up on a respirator in intensive care for a few days and was very sick. Through the highly-medicated purple haze in which I existed for a few days, my father, who is notoriously tight with money, told me he would purchase my plane ticket for an upcoming trip I had planned to Texas to visit a friend. When I was finally out of intensive care and the tubes were all removed from my mouth and nose, it's the first thing I had to tell mom. Excitedly I said “Dad told me he’d buy my plane ticket to Houston!" I paused and continued. “Wow mom. If my heart had stopped, I’ll bet I could’ve had that European vacation I’ve always dreamed of.”
Well, mom was none too pleased with this analogy, but I found it very amusing. After all, you don't nearly get done in by your tonsils and not have to enjoy some sense of absurdity about it all. My point is, it made what just happened to me more palatable and relatable. And it also lent it some levity which was much needed by that point. Humor saves me always and I encourage us all to bring it out when most needed. Life is an absurd journey - laugh along the way!
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