On my way into work this morning, I was listening to Joel Osteen on XM radio. He was speaking today on the benefits of laughter.  For those who know me…..I love to laugh! I love to laugh with friends, with coworkers, with family, really with anyone.  I love the “catch your breath” moment when I can’t stop laughing or when the tears are streaming down my face from laughing so hard. Everyone loves to laugh, right? I bet you can remember a time when you had a really good belly laugh!

The message today reminded me of when the girls and I were driving down to visit my father (I’ll give an update on him shortly) one day earlier this summer. On our drive, we played a game where we think of things we are hoping to see like llamas, a pink water tower or maybe a tractor driving alongside the road and if one of the things we listed is found, then the person scores points.  After accumulating a certain number of points, the person gets a prize. Most of the time, the girls get something from DQ and I get the girls agreeing to vacuum the house for a week. Win/win, right?  Well, this was the first time we were playing this game and I said brown cows thinking brown cows were not as common as black cows. To my disbelief, within 2 minutes we drove by a farm with at least 100 brown cows in the pasture.  Are you serious?  OMG!  I couldn’t believe it!  Who would have thought?

We broke out in hysterical laughter. I almost had to stop the car because we were laughing so hard.  It was awesome!  I think we smiled the entire way to Tyler and back after such a great, catch your breath, tears streaming laugh!  I share this story because I learned several things that day.  I learned “brown” cows are not rare, I learned a good laugh can make your day, your week or even your month more delightful and I learned the memory of that moment will bring so many more laughs for years to come!  Yes…we still laugh every time we drive by!

It’s these moments that make me cherish my life and make me so grateful for my girls, the laughter they give me and just the precious gift of laughter! I encourage you to laugh today.  A small, medium or big laugh will make your day and maybe even your week so much more joyful and happy! And I believe everyone can use a little happiness and joy in their lives!

As promised, my father is stable at this time.  His kidneys are functioning around 11% and his heart is working fiercely to keep up!  With 24×7 care and three solid meals a day, I think he is doing quite well! Thank you for you continued prayers and kind thoughts!

P.S. Don’t forget to laugh today! 🙂