Laughter heals the soul

I was blessed with a great laugh. I love my laugh. It is from the heart and loud and makes others smile. We all need to hear laughter, it is truly healing. It is a great release of tension. Have you ever noticed at a wake there is usually laughter? I believe laughter binds us to one another. Don't you think that laughter, true laughter, can make enemies maybe even like each other. I grew up in a house that was always laughing. We learned to laugh with each other, at each other and at ourselves probably since birth. My dad was full of jokes and truly loved to tell them. My mom, could never remember the punch line or she would remember just the punch line. My dad would change his accent to tell the jokes and would have us roaring. Some of my most cherished memories are of when my dad got together with my uncles Dave, Frank,Joe and Skip; they almost competed with each other and had us laughing so hard that tears would roll down our faces. Our sense of humor came from both sides of our family. My parents would visit my Uncle Larry and Aunty Peggy and we kids would hide under the table and listen as they played cards. My uncle was very quiet but so funny and my Aunt was so full of love. We were truly blessed with a great family all around! My dad was the baby of 12 and my mom was the oldest of 6. So, needless to say, we have tons of cousins! I don't think you can ever have too many relatives. Even though we are all different, we all have a great sense of humor. Oh yes, there are days that I find very difficult to laugh, and even as much as I miss my husband and parents, if you were to bump into me, just having met me, you would never know that my heart was actually shattered. I have a gift. It was passed to me from my mom and I passed it on to my daughter; I am sure some of my family shares in this same gift, but, I have never asked. To me this gift is a blessing. People tend to connect to us. There is something about us that makes people comfortable right away and share things with us. Usually they will even say, they aren't even sure why they just told us what they did, because they either don't know us or haven't ever told anyone or sometimes both. Even though I can be a little shy at first, if I see someone who is uncomfortable or shy, I reach right out for them and try to make them feel at ease. I hope that they are not thinking who is this crazy lady talking to me? I have the gift of gab as my dad called it. I used to tease my mom who would just talk with anyone, and any where, grocery stores, church, bathrooms, you name it. Come to find out, I am just like her. Another gift I got from my mom was eavesdropping. Oh yes, sitting in a restaurant is the best place. We would go out to eat and she'd say did you hear what they just said, and proceed to tell us. Quite awhile ago, while she was still alive, I found that I do the same thing! Oh yes, I still do it to this day, so, if you are in any way close enough for me to hear your conversation, I am listening. I can't help it, I just can't, so please, if you are ever discussing your bank robbery or plans to do so, or where you hid the dead body, wait until you are sure no one can hear you. It truly would be accidental if I heard it so please don't come and torture me into telling. Your secret is safe, really! Sometimes, laughter just bursts out at the wrong times, like when someone falls down, when in church, or at bodily functions... After my husband died, it was hard to find laughter again. It slowly came back to me. I asked for a sign, seems as if I tend to need that reassurance quite a bit...I never know what kind of sign I will get, but, I always get one. just look at that pepper that I cut open, have you ever seen such a happy pepper before? Not me, I have tried to duplicate it, but it never looks like that. That was my sign.

I don't want to be one of the bitter people, I want to laugh. I want to always find wonderment in the little things in life, like the way the raindrops sound on our metal roof, or watching a baby learn to walk, the way a bumblebee is actually able to fly. I want to still see the beauty in dandelions, and slugs and spider webs. The way the sun shines through the clouds, the way the ocean glistens, the sounds of new life in the woods during spring, the scent of grass that has just been cut, the smell of leaves in the fall, and the designs that frost makes in the winter. My wish is that even though your life may be hectic and things may not be going very well, or just the opposite and you are very well off, please go enjoy something small and find your wonderment again.