Good Medicine

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​

It's almost miraculous how laughter can soften a moment. After the last baseball game of Danny's senior year, which they lost terribly, the ride home was a sad one. In the quiet of it all, I noticed

​Mr ​

Bill chewing -- no, chomping on

​a really big

piece of gum, so big his jaw popped with every chew.  I knew he was struggling, too; in fact, the more tears he blink

​ed​

away, the faster he

​ ​

chew

​​

ed

​​

.  Soon my mind was
so

​ ​

focused on

​the​ ​

chomping

​I ​

lost all sense of present sadness.  When I could

​ ​

stand it no longer, I blurted out, "Where in tarnation did you

​ ​

get that wad

​ ​

a'gum?"  He looked at me

​ ​

and retorted,

​ ​

"none of yo' business." That did it!

​ ​

All the

​ ​

buds of sadness

​ ​

burst into

​ ​

laughter

​ ​

and overcame us all!

​ ​

That was when

​Mr ​

Bill announced

​ ​

this Pity Party had come to an end, and we were going to eat!  Food --

​ ​

that wonderful stuff

​ ​

that seals all deals!

​ ​

Proverbs 17:22

​ ​

says

​​

, "A happy heart is like good medicine."

​ ​

Good medicine

​ ​

is the perfect description for laughter: it's soothing and contagious.

​ ​

Life's hard knocks often leave us lacking a "happy heart," and

​ ​

what we need are regular doses of that "good medicine" called laughter.

​ ​

When

​ ​

was

​ ​

the last time you

​ ​

considered

​ ​

how hard life is and that you just might be

​ ​

taking it way-too-seriously? Jonathan Swift said, "May you live all the days of your life."  Lighten

​ ​

your load - and the load of others - laugh a little and live a lot! ​