Update: Laughing at What Ails Ye – It’s Good for Body and Soul!

/ Marcia Meara

It’s been my lifelong belief that you can handle anything thrown your way once you reach the point where you can laugh about it. Laughter is a saving grace we have all been blessed with, but the importance of which is often forgotten. I honestly do not know how anyone who can’t laugh at themselves, and at life in general, can survive, though I see plenty of evidence today that many people have lost the ability.  My heart goes out to them, for they apparently lack one of the greatest survival tools of all.

😀 😀 😀

Granted, as I was lying on the floor Tuesday, in blinding pain and with the mounting fear that I had fractured my skull in the worst fall I’ve ever taken, I was not laughing. Nope. Way too soon. Nor did I laugh while struggling to get to my feet and into some clothing,  so I wouldn’t have to go to the ER in my nightgown. Still too soon. I did start making a few feeble jokes with the good folks in the ER. Maybe not too soon for a dark chuckle or two, but definitely too early for anything resembling clever humor. 

And so it went for three days, as I reflected on how lucky I was to still be alive and possessed of functioning brain cells, though a few of those may have abandoned ship in the great tumble. But actual humor was still a struggle. It kept being drowned out by the mother of all headaches, some pretty extreme fatigue, and  a lot of overall shakiness. But guess what? It’s baaaa-aaaaack!

😀 😀 😀

Yes, my sense of humor–weird and slightly twisted as it often is–has returned! I’m laughing again this morning! And after a conversation with my very good friend and cover designer, Nicki Forde-Ficocelli (who says she is going to paint a flowered helmet for me), I realized I’m laughing all over the place. It was the vision of me wearing said helmet while riding around on a tiny tricycle a la Arte Johnson from the old Laugh-In show that did me in, and is still making me giggle. (Hey, I never said all my jokes  were genius quality!)

The upshot of this is, I’m feeling much more stable on my feet, much more certain that my life will return to something resembling normal, and pretty darn sure that no matter what’s going on, if I can find something about it to make me laugh, I can survive!

My sense of humor has stood me in good stead for 75 years, and hopefully, I’ll get a bit more mileage out of it, yet. And my hope for you is that no matter what life throws your way (or where life decides to throw YOU), you’ll be able to find the humor in the situation at some point. Laughing will save your sanity, and it has the added bonus of making everyone around you wonder what the heck you’re up to. Try it. I heartily recommend it. 

😀 😀 😀

Our regularly scheduled programming will resume on Monday! Have a great weekend!

19 thoughts on “Update: Laughing at What Ails Ye – It’s Good for Body and Soul!”

  4. Well done Marcia; yes fear of being inappropriately dressed for the paramedics or one’s arrival at hospital is surely greater than the dread of what’s going to happen there! It would just be one’s luck to be only half dressed and discover they are filming a documentary at the hospital, compounded by the fact that medics insist on calling out one’s age in a loud voice!

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  5. Hi Marcia, I like to think that I have written nonsense on most topics one can imagine. Here is an excerpt from my second book…on helmets…and note , “the Socreds” vaguely similar to the Tea Party movement.

    “Jerry Ford is a nice guy, but he played too much football with his helmet off” ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

    Personally, I was an easy sell about helmets. I spent most of my teen years growing up in an old house with a six-foot basement. For much of that time, I was over six feet tall. I always had to try to remember to duck. Being an incurable head banger, I often failed that vital memory test. No matter how wary I was, I was forever banging my noggin on the beams that supported the rest of the house. We didn’t wear bike helmets then. Who knows how much damage was done to my progressively dented skull. Was it parental neglect? If someday I do explode into a murderous rage, I may well have to blame my parents, that too short basement and, possibly, an indifferent government without the foresight to decree that all unnaturally lanky kids wear helmets in squat cellars.

    However, I find little reassurance in the notion that the government could have compelled me to wear a home helmet. My father abandoned his treasured ‘Socreds’ because they made wearing seat belts mandatory. God knows what his reaction would have been to forcing people to stick their heads in plastic buckets, in their own home yet.

    As with many things, I am of two minds on what level of intrusion I will tolerate from Government. I will however, continue to wear a helmet for each of those two minds, just as a precaution.

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  9. Well, I’m very glad you’re back to laughing at yourself and that I could assist in the process, Marcia. Once we get this new cover finished, we’ll start brainstorming (oh dear) on your helmet design. It needs sparkles. And tiny wings sticking off the sides. Racing stripes to go with the tricycle. A camera, maybe? With a live feed to your blog so we would all know if you went down again and we could all notify the appropriate authorities.

    You mustn’t damage your noodle. It’s a fine noodle – and you’re still using it!

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  11. Falls are so scary and painful… particularly as we get older. I’m glad you’re laughing again, Marcia. Thank goodness for a sense of humor. I agree with you – it makes everything so much better. Take extra care of yourself as you recuperate. ❤

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  12. I’m so glad to hear you laughing again. I bet you and your designer could come up with something that befits you. It could have your beloved animals and become your brand. Everyone that you greet at your functions will know that you are someone who isn’t afraid of showing your humorous side. Continue healing and laughing… things will get better.

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  18. I’m so pleased to hear you are feeling better, Marcia, and have regained the ability to laugh at yourself. Yes, a pretty flowery helmet and a little trike is amusing. My year of the fall was 2012. I, too, am lucky to be alive and to have not sustained permanent serious damage in my fall as many do. While I don’t often laugh at that first fall when I knocked myself out, I do laugh at the three subsequent falls that year. Thankfully, none since. 🙂 Look after yourself. Stay well and laugh. Laughter is the best medicine, so I’ve heard.

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