January 28, 2013

  • Sometimes, We All Just Need A Good, Long Laugh

    TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    Chewlee loves to help me fold clothes.  Especially the rags we use for general wipe ups and cleaning.  We use a lot of them because I hate to use them for more than a day because of germs.  Even though we use a disinfectant spray for wiping the counters and sinks out, I've seen the Beast drop down on the floor and wipe up an area and then just put it back in the sink.  That's just gross to my way of thinking but what can you expect from a man who ruined many a good dish towel with grease and oil?  Worse, he never understood why I couldn't just wash it and use it for my dishes after that. 

    Anyway, as I was folding other stuff, Chewlee was folding the rags for me.  She did her usual nice job and had them piled up to the point I thought they would fall over but they didn't.  Then she helped me put them in the drawer in the kitchen and was just so proud and happy she had helped me.  I really get a kick out of that.  She was disappointed that there weren't any more things to be folded but I told her I would have more for her on Tuesday, maybe even tomorrow.  She liked that and encouraged me to make it tomorrow.

    She sat with my Nook today for about an hour and *read* a couple books I've got downloaded for her.  The Nook reads her the story she picks out and she has a couple she enjoys to hear over and over.  Today she discovered I had a couple new ones I had downloaded for her so it was a real treat.  I end up turning off the TV and the sound on my computer when she does that because I want to hear what she is listening to.  I found out that she is sounding out the words and is actually following the reading with her finger.  I really DO have to go and get her the Learn to Read books by Leap Frog.  They should be restocked by now after the Christmas rush.

    I was talking earlier today with an old friend that I haven't spoken to for a while.  Turns out we both have been recuperating from some major surgeries.  She had an emergency appendectomy and they also took out her gall bladder since that was on the schedule in just a few more days.  She talked about joking with the doctors and the anesthesiologist and we laughed because that is something we have in common.  I joke with my doctors, too.  She told me she loved to talk to me because I always made her laugh.  I thought that funny because that's how I feel about HER.  That's when we really laughed.  But laughter is healing.  No, really.  It is.  Ask nurses.  They find that patients that have families that laugh with them and make jokes recuperate much better than families that are always serious. 

    Me?  I think laughter IS healing.  I know it makes a difference to me, which is why I joke with my doctors.  I was undergoing surgery (while I was awake but shielded from watching).  Stents were being put into place across my lower abdominal area and at the bypass area that I had done earlier in the year and my doctor told me more than once to stop making him laugh.  The nurses kept giggling.  For the life of me, I can't tell you exactly what I was saying.  Maybe it was because I was VERY relaxed with whatever they had in that IV but we were all laughing and a few times we laughed hard enough the doctor had to stop what he was doing.  He told me I was playing hell with his statistics (time for surgery to be performed) but the nurses all told me that I was up and about much quicker than the doctor even expected.  He told me he had just learned from the earlier surgeries that I was a great patient and he suspected it had a lot to do with laughter in my life.  ((HA!  He should know the Beast.))

    My friend and I agree that it is probably the laughter that we've shared, more than the heartbreak, that has kept our friendship alive for over 50 years now.  We know how to make each other laugh and that is such a wonderful thing.  Why?  Because we all need to have a laugh that comes from deep in our bellies every once in a while.  Chewlee gets hiccups when she has that kind of laugh but I just love to hear it from her.  What a joyous thing to hear from a child, let alone an adult.  You recognize it when you hear it or experience it.  I've had it happen to me in movie theaters (coming from ME...LOL) or someone in the crowd.  If it's someone else, it always makes me smile.  Some people get annoyed but not me.  I love the sound of laughter....real laughter.  Try it sometime.  Let yourself go and let it out!  Don't be embarrassed.  It's GOOD for you....truly.

    Love you all.  Have a fantastic week...or at least try to.