A MERRY HEART

My memories of hilarious happenings at our house are plenteous! Without a doubt, they played a part in making it through. I think of the twins acting out the ABCs with amazing contortions and their spontaneous made up songs and commercials. Sometimes they would lie down on their backs, pull their knees to either side of their heads, and display an upside down face they had drawn on their backs.

I remember Ginger singing her heart out with her very loud voice…the wrong words. I recall, too, silently laughing at her as she read a book, curled up in the corner. She was the most earnest reader I have seen, her expressions changing with the plot. And, I can clearly remember laughing until the tears rolled down my face watching the boys put on a wrestling show for me and acting out classical music.

People who shared a meal with us nearly always commented on the laughter at our table, although I dare say there were a few that went away rolling their eyes. We used to treat our first-time guests to a Heldman episode of “say-whatever-comes-to-your-mind” and without fail, had a good laugh at the results. One of us would start by seriously saying something like, “The cows came home through the park.” Another would add, “It doesn’t matter if the umbrellas were under the table.” There would be a pause and someone else would say, “Well, if they still buy wheat in Austria, then it’s okay if the women dye their hair.” Our visitor would politely say nothing but we could always see their eyes sort of moving slowly back and forth between all of us. They thought we were weird but they loved us!

Then there were my malapropisms like “sharp as a button,” and “I didn’t want to rattle her boat.” Once, while angry at the lack of cooperation from the whole family in the latest plan for keeping the house clean, I stated loudly to Ken that if things didn’t get better, there was going to be “blood…(pause, thinking)…and feathers!” As soon as I said it and saw Ken’s quizzical expression, I burst into 15 minutes of uncontrollable laughter, rolling on the kitchen floor.

Add to all of that the fact that Ken had at instant recall at least a thousand jokes and many brand new funnies that came perfectly timed from his lips, and you have a good example of “a merry heart does good like a medicine.” I guess a lot of things enter into illness especially in a large family, but I can’t help but be convinced that the hilarity and frivolity and humor in our home helped to keep us basically well. I think that there were only two children hospital visits all the years the kids were home!

I love the scene in Anne of Green Gables where Anne shrieks “Stop” just in time to keep her teacher from eating the sauce in which a mouse had met its demise. At first there was horror on the face of all. Then a tiny smile broke out on Miss Stacey's face. In moments, Marilla and Matthew and the teacher and Anne were all laughing gustily. I love that scene. We should be like that. We should get over the shocks and hurts and errors of others quickly and find something to be happy about. We should laugh more.

Reader’s Digest calls it, “Laughter…the Best Medicine.” They must have pulled that from the book of Proverbs. Laughter…not just smiling…but laughter, is really good for you. Get on with it! And remember…the “L” is silent as in “Flish.”