This evening I would outside rolling up hoses and checking on plants when I heard a great sound. It was a toddler laughing. You know, that GREAT belly-busting laugh? Yeah, that one. One of our neighbors just finished installing a playground in their back yard and the little one was swinging while Daddy was putting on a show in front of him. Mom was laughing beside him and both ended up with gut-busters of their own from laughing at their baby. I found myself laughing too... there truly is nothing more contagious than a baby laugh!
Research shows that laughter is good for healing. A commonly heard saying is "Laughter is good for the soul". Children laugh upwards of 40 times a day, adults less than 5. I need to laugh more!!!
I just got back from spending 2 weeks helping my parents as my mom underwent some surgery. The recovery process needed a second pair of hands and my dad couldn't take that much time off work so I went. Not to mention, my parents are some of my very favorite people so there was no way I could endure knowing my mom was under the ole' knife and me not be there!! Anyway, I had read an article just before her surgery that laughter would help.
Well it's really hard to laugh when you're feeling super cruddy and recovering from surgery!! But we were determined we were going to get some laughs in so every few nights, my mom and I would get out the scrabble board and dictionary and look for some crazy words with high point values. It was awesome! We discovered vugs (go ahead, look it up), boinks, ixia and a plethora of bizarre words that no one but a scrabble nerd would know. LOL We were puzzled, confused on occasion, but mostly hysterical to discover these crazy words and how to use them in a sentence.
As I stood out there unable to work b/c I couldn't stop listening to that baby laugh, I realized I don't laugh much during the day. The kids do but I don't. Maybe I need to teach the kids to play scrabble. :)
What do you do to make your day more laughter-ific? (Yes I did just invent that word) I'm up for ideas to make laughter more common around here!!
**For those interested: my mom is recovering nicely although we both miss me being there. HA! The kids miss Grammie & Pawpaw and the puppies and my mom said she misses the kids noise. And I suspect she misses those scrabble games too.
I miss laughing so hard I cry. But it makes me laugh now just remembering the fun. You're the best scrabbler ever!
ReplyDelete*digs out scrabble dictionary*
ReplyDeleteSorry Mom, it's not "one who scrabbles"... can you believe it?? Nice use of a double B though! bwahahahahahaha