To begin, I’m going to take a page from a Blog I follow: Writing By the Numbers.
Number of family members or close friends recently diagnosed for or treated for cancer: 6
Number of hours sleep lost due to the above: More than I can count.
Number of hours spent writing on my novel in the last two months (excluding this blog and a business trip): 6
As my brother told me before going into surgery, “God has decided now is a good time to test us.” He then added, “After I wake up, whatever you do, do not make me laugh.”
Yeah right! He knew better than to expect that.
You see, I try real hard everyday to laugh. It might be a joke a friend e-mails to me, or a favorite sitcom, or my wife being her crazy self. But, sometime during the day I will find a way to laugh. I believe the main reason my wife and I are well into three decades of marital bliss, is because we laugh together everyday.
Please do not take it that I find anything amusing about the statistics listed above, quite the contrary. These are people I would take a bullet for and it tears me up everyday that they are in pain. However, I have seen first hand that, “laughter is the best medicine.” Laughter tends to dry the tears and heal the broken heart. Medical research has shown that laughter is one of the best stress reducers.
Many times, as a youngster, my mother would get mad at me. When she finished yelling at me, I would begin to laugh. She would become more angry and I would continue to laugh until finally she would shake her head and start laughing with me. I did not laugh at her anger. that would have been foolish and probably ended with me sitting on a sore butt for a few hours. No, my laughter was a defense mechanism. It was how I tried to diffuse the situation. When I lost my mother a few years back, I cried until I started to laugh. It was her way of getting back at me.
My writing has suffered and I’m okay with that for now. I know “this too shall pass” and soon I’ll get back to the keyboard. So, hug your family and do something fun. Tonight, I’m going to open a bottle a snazzy beer. put the cat fight from Puss ‘n Boots in the DVD player, and ROFLMAO!!!
Tomorrow’s a new day.
Tales From The Hare 