Laughter, Joy, and Gratitude

Something Bad Could Happen

It’s easy to get swept away by the bad news: someone is treated badly; someone is swindled out of their life savings, the life is savagely snuffed out of a good person, a young life is lost.

Knowing about the bad things that could happen can be scary. It can get us to a place where we are waiting for the next shoe to fall. When will it be OUR TURN to experience something bad? It could be around the next corner. And it COULD!

Even after something bad, though, most likely, there will be something good around the next corner. Remember that the media has to pull news about something bad from all around the country and the world, just to keep us informed.

It’s not news that 16 million school children arrived safety. There’s no headline in knowing that 45 million husbands chose to come home to their families and share their lives tonight. The fact that 34 million of them were met with a hug and a smile; you’ll never hear Fox News report it.

So take the news with a grain of salt. Something bad did happen to them. It could happen to you. And if it does, you have the strength and courage to figure out how to handle it.

In the meantime, enjoy the everyday good times. Treasure them. Don’t let them get by without celebration. They are what this good life is all about.

[#322]

How Early Did You Know Joy?

I was trying to think back to when I first understood the concept of JOY. I know for sure that it was there when my children were each born—incredible joy that not only their fingers and toes were intact, but their soul and spirit and brain as well—and all in my care to form and nurture.

But I was joyous before then. Every time I think of a joyous moment, an earlier one occurs to me too. There was the joy of graduation . . . of first love . . . of the first good reviews on the job. I remember the joy of pulling safely up to my parents’ house after driving a car alone for the first time.

But even before then, there was the joy of sounds of music in church . . . Christmas celebrations . . . finding out that a childhood friend was a REAL friend, willing to stand up for me and take rough hits.

I wonder if I felt joy as a baby . . . as an infant. I’ll bet I did. I’ll bet an infant cuddled in its mother’s arms knows unmitigated joy. It’s true for the mother, so it probably is for the child as well.

So it seems that joy has been with us our whole lives. All we have to do is recognize it, and bask in it. One thing for sure. Joy is not in things; it is in people and memories. Make sure your daily tendings include a search for joy.

Photo credit: Michael Petrick of Petrick Studios

[Show #430]

Because She Loves Him

They were leaving that day for a few weeks in Florida. The wife had made her lists, put her stuff together, had check marks on just about everything on the list and was ready to go.

The husband – well, he was still deciding which fishing poles to take. The car had not gotten washed as he planned and not everyone was informed of what was expected of them while the couple was away.

She could find it maddening. Why hadn’t he spent his time doing his share? She could yell, bang around, scold him, and put him down. Instead, she went and read a book, ignoring the sounds of his hustling.

You see, she loves him. And she found out years ago that he is who he is. And not being ready on time is one of his traits. She could hate it and fight it, or she could find a way to cope.

So she stretches the truth a bit, telling him they have to leave at noon, when the actual ETD is 2 p.m. She knows that with a few extra hours, he’ll almost be ready. She’ll then gently remind him of those things he was most likely to forget, and they’ll be on their way – perhaps a little late, but happy.

Sounds like a 1950s sitcom strategy. But it works, because she loves him enough to accept him as he is and to be a managing partner, when necessary. What a wise woman. A master at turning lemons into lemonade. This is the essence of love.

[Show #265]

Comfort Food

Fried green tomatoes – What an odd treat. Have you had them? They are the specialty featured at some southern restaurants. Green tomatoes, sliced thick, dipped in batter and fried to a golden brown. Wonderful ethnic comfort food, so cherished today, was actually based on what was grown and cultivated in a geographic area – usually in back yards.

Rice in China . . . tomatoes in Italy . . . cabbage, potatoes and pigs in Poland. I think of the mouth-watering stuffed cabbage my grandmother made. And the sauerkraut aged in crocks in the basement. And the potatoes stored in the coal bin all winter.

When we grew up on those foods, we really look forward to enjoying them today. Sometimes they’re just not available – or are far too difficult to fix. Some ethnic comfort food is found commercially, but it’s never quite the same.

I appreciate restaurants and chains that are returning comfort food to their menus. Have you seen KFC and its liver and gizzard Tuesday? Revolting to some; manna to others.

Watch for ethnic comfort foods on menus. You may be pleasantly surprised. And be sure to give fried green tomatoes a turn too. Just delicious, y’all!

[Show #382]

The Difference Love Makes

I’ve been trying to grab the feeling of being loved and in love. It’s something so ethereal as to defy description. It makes the very air I breathe sweeter, safer, more nourishing.

Look at it from a practical standpoint. If I did not love someone so much and he did not love me, I would still have my same body, my same mind. I would still have the same values to build on and the same education and age and looks.

But somehow, they are all BETTER because I love and am loved.

You know what amazes me the most? All I have to do to deserve all this love is to BE. To exist. To live one day after the other. Just by doing so, I seem to earn his love and devotion.

Am I being silly? Is this something unique to me?

Or—what a wonderful thought—are there hundreds…thousands…millions of people out there who are as loved as you are, and I am. Well, my goodness, I think that is the case! Millions of people are loved and in love. We all experience this wonderment of the soul.

I want to meet them all. I want to shake their hands and congratulate them and share their joy.

And if you are one of them, oh my, but we are the lucky ones.

[Show #381]

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