"What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul." ~Yiddish Proverb
As a child, my brother, sister and I used to go with my mother to visit my grandmother in the country during the summer. In the evening, the children would run around the yard chasing lightning bugs while my mother, grandmother and Aunt Bessie, my grandmother's sister, would sit under the car port snapping peas and telling stories.
Sometimes, I would take a rest from all of my running around and sit down with them and listen. The stories were not familiar to me because they came from their shared experience many years before living out on that same countryside, though in much leaner times. Yet from those times shared together, as hard as they were, they were able to remember times of great fun.
Even now, as I remember them, my heart smiles and I can see them sitting there, bowls of field peas in their laps with their heads slung back in hearty laughter and tears running down their cheeks. My mother would get a stitch in her side and lean forward, still laughing, to catch her breath. Aunt Bessie, in her homemade cotton dress, gave up her usually pursed lips for laughter and a smile, and as she tried to restrain herself, made her ample figure jiggle in the process.
When I grew into my teen years, the same scene would embarrass me, and I could not understand how the same stories could send normally sane women into fits of laughter. Fortunately, those years were short, and I once again enjoyed those evenings spent together reminiscing, now including stories of which I was a part. I don't remember any of the stories now, but I will never forget the laughter and the smiles.
Looking back now, the stories they shared were second to the laughter. The years they spoke of were from the Great Depression and World War II, when the whole country was hit hard and even harder for those already living in austerity. Finding the good was a way of easing the pain, even eradicating it.
I learned to laugh from my mother, her mother and Aunt Bessie. I am not too delicate in my expression. My mouth opens too wide and the sound is often raucous and uncontrolled. There was once a time, not too long ago, when I thought I had lost my ability to laugh, even smile. Laughter is something that comes from deep within, as does a genuine smile, and deep down all I could feel was sadness. Thank goodness the loss was not permanent.
My laugh is back now, along with my smile. The secret is to have people around us who think laughing is good medicine, daily medicine. Lucky for me, I have just such people in my life...
......and the laughter never ends.
