Laughter is the Best Medicine

Hi There!

Who doesn’t love to laugh? I once read a quote that said, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Being able to laugh with my late husband, Andrew, even during the most difficult seasons of life, helped me get through some painful moments. I remember listening to Ellen Degeneres’ book, Seriously…I’m Kidding, with Andrew on one of our drives to M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital for a chemotherapy appointment and we just laughed until our cheeks hurt. If you’ve seen our family’s documentary, there’s a part where I crack up laughing hysterically at Andrew, which may seem out of place, but in that moment what you don’t hear is him cracking jokes about what he would do if in the future some little punk kid comes along and breaks our little girl, Ellie’s, heart. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say he kept his sense of humor until the very end.

Last year I read several books written by comedians because I just needed to laugh. Heck, sometimes my life feels like a comedy. Anyone? Since laughter inspires me, and because I don’t take myself too seriously, I wanted to share some personal comedic highlights from the past few months.

It was my dad who taught me not to take myself or life too seriously. He’s the funniest person I know and I can always depend on him for comedic relief. For the past several years, it’s been Ellie’s and my Christmas tradition to spend the night on Christmas Eve at my parents’ house. This past Christmas Day, after Ellie opened all of her gifts, I decided to start loading up my car to bring everything back to my house. All morning, our Mini Golden Doodle, Keller, was barking at the front door, which we all found quite annoying and a little strange.

Thankfully, I had just put on my tall Frye boots after running around barefoot with Ellie while we played in the driveway earlier that morning. On my way back from dropping off a load of toys in my car, I was moseying along, looking at my feet, when suddenly I heard this loud hissing sound. I looked to my right and (I kid you not) a few inches away, right near the front door, was a huge snake, reared up and hissing at me. My knees went sky-high in the air, I said some things I will not repeat here, and I slammed the door right in the snake’s face as it was about to slither into the house.

OK, so apparently it was a grass snake, but in my defense it was the largest grass snake I’d ever seen. My dad went outside with a broom and what did he do? Launched the snake into the flowerbed, right next to the driver’s side door of my car. He informed me we need those kinds of snakes around and had it bitten me, it wouldn’t have been poisonous. El and I entered my car that day from the passenger side. Thanks, Dad.

Here’s another one: My 10-year-old niece, Reagan, beautiful Aunt Betty (who’s in her mid 60s), Ellie, and I were out eating lunch at a nice chain restaurant (that will remain nameless). We sat at a booth with a rock wall behind us. El and I sat on the side with the rock wall and Betty and Reagan sat across from us. Halfway through lunch, both Reagan and I see a black…something…pop up behind Ellie’s head, then quickly disappear. We both look at each other in shock, not sure what we’ve just seen. I notify our waitress, who looks politely confused and suggests we tell the manager. He comes over to talk to us and my niece tells him she thinks she saw a black moth. He thanks us for not making a big scene and kindly tells us he will be comping the kids’ meals.

He’s gone no more than a few minutes when, all of a sudden, my sweet and gentle Aunt Betty screams like a 5-year-old little girl on the playground, jumps out of her seat, and sprints faster than Usain Bolt to the other end of the restaurant. I’m sitting there, utterly shocked, as my niece calmly informs me the black something came back, and it had a head. The girls go over to Aunt Betty, who is talking to the manager, and as I’m finishing up the check, I see this black RAT crawl out of the booth and…mic drop, I’m out.

OK, one more: Pretty recently, El and I were staying at my parent’s house and the toilet in our bedroom’s bathroom started to overflow. I ran downstairs to tell my dad and he handed me a plunger. I’ll admit, it had been awhile since I’d last used one of those, but how hard would it be? Let’s just say I made a rookie mistake and flushed too soon, which caused the whole bathroom to start flooding. I rushed downstairs to tell my dad. Needless to say, he took this event very seriously, no comedic relief in sight. He told me we had to quickly get it up or the water would leak into the lower level of the house. We threw towels everywhere and as I ran downstairs to get the wet vac I heard a rainstorm coming from my parents’ bedroom. When I peeked in, I saw a shower of water coming through a light fixture. I ran to get more towels. Eventually, we got it all dry, but let’s just say I won’t live that one down for awhile. On the bright side, I now know how to use a plunger.

So there you have it, people. I hope my life could provide you with a little comedic relief. If you’re willing, I’d love to hear a funny highlight from your life! Feel free to share. Looking forward to laughing.

Truly appreciate you spending time with me today ☺ Have a wonderful rest of the week! Love and Blessings.

PS – Wanting to inspire a group you are a part of? If so, I’d love to come speak at your next event, meeting, etc. Email me today [email protected]. Looking forward to connecting with you soon!

PPS – If you’re looking for an inspirational and meaningful book to share with your family check out The Ellie Project written and illustrated by my late husband, Andrew, for our daughter in the final months of his life. It’s a powerful book and we’d love to share it with you. Get your signed copy at ellieproject.com.