Laughter Is The Best Medicine

                I know I closed off a blog once by the statement; ‘Laughter is the best medicine”.   I kept thinking about it regarding lots of things and wanted to bring it back up.  I know through some of my blogs you will think my dad is a very “serious” person given the coaching and teaching positions he has served on while always pushing to be better.  However, seriousness aside my dad’s sense of humor is what has drawn so many people to love him.  Dad has such a balance of saying what needs to be said but making it not as hard to take by cushioning it with some sort of laughter statement.  People who aren’t happy will not put their best foot forward, but also in order to give your best there are still some constructive criticism you have to be able to take.  I think now that I’m older (yes I know I’m still young…but older then I was when dad coached me) I look back at a lot of ways dad handled different situations and realize he got the most out of the kids because it was the approach he took in teaching as well as educating.

               
     Upon researching a few quotes (we all know dad loves his quotes) I found these two I couldn’t decide upon which one to use so they both made the cut: 

                “A keen sense of humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming, understand the unconventional, tolerate the unpleasant, overcome the unexpected, and outlast the unbearable” – Billy Graham

                “A sense of humor is the part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Both of those have so much meaning to the situation we find ourselves in now.  Dad was given a challenge by the diagnoses of Parkinson’s Disease that many could have given up on because of it.  Dad still placed himself in the center of so many kids lives by sharing in a passion he loved by coaching and teaching all while battling this challenge and never skipping a beat while continuing to share laughter.  Dad got the most out of each one of those kids by including them by giving them reasons to laugh by his leadership and all while motivating them to give the best of their ability. They got things done all because most of them believed in themselves as much as they did in each other.        

      The optimism dad shared with us every day is why I’m doing this for Michael J. Fox’s Foundation, after all his book is titled the “The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist”.  Need I explain any further?

I actually entered middle school/high school somewhat with a shy characteristic (I know hard to image), rather it be through my nervous tendencies or what I’m not sure of.  Dad….well….he never actually at any point had a shy approach to anything.  I realize there was never going to be any hiding for me even if I wanted to upon entering the new consolidated Middle/High School we had.  See, both my parents are teachers, one at the grade school I grew up attending, and the other at the middle school connected to the high school I was at.  One day during the start of school an assembly was running behind, therefore entertainment for the students was needed to keep everyone occupied and under control.  So there I was sitting in the auditorium around all my new friends when a rather scuffled woman’s voice echoes throughout the room with a “HELLLLLLOOOOOOOO” walking down the center aisle.  As everyone turned around it quickly hit me, this southern bell cross dressed woman was my dad.  Apparently the only skit they could put together within minutes was this!?!?  As the whole room echoes with laughter everyone is well aware at this point it’s “dad” so I could either accept it or suffer through it J  I might as well join in with the laughter.  Don’t worry, this wasn’t the only time he amused the entire school with his entertainment skills.

As I was going through some pictures last night looking for things to include in this blog I ran across a picture of dad on vacation several years ago and it hit me….maybe the apple really didn’t fall far from the tree.  This picture reminded me of a picture Brock had taken of me on a little day trip to the aquarium a year ago.

We joke in our family about where I came from.  (See, we joke/laugh about everything) J  It really makes the hard times just a little bit easier.   You may question the same thing when comparing me with my sisters, I know the height difference is obvious, skin tone, hair color, eye color but I’ve been assured we are all the same J  Maybe it’s just because I’m “THE MIDDLE CHILD” and I can guarantee my family is rolling their eyes at that statement.  It does tend to be the perfect excuse for things J  Over the years though I’m pretty certain it’s safe to say, I’m definitely my dad’s child J 

Ohhhh….I can’t forget…I did run yesterday J  After another springtime rain when I got home from work I took my 4 legged friend with me and ran the trails that’s actually on our property.  I stayed a little closer to home and just did several laps consisting of about 30 minutes in case the rain decided to sneak up quickly again. 

I would also like to send a quick little thank you to Chelsea (Jones) Culberson for making and mailing me some handmade cards to add to our card fundraising project I'm organizing and also our cousin Carrie (Milam) Ford for surprising me with LOTS Of card donations for us to get going on to sell with proceeds going to this cause. She has also sold some for us to get us a little start to fundraising.  THANK YOU! J  I have appreciated so many of the notes so many of you have sent; they truly do mean the world to us.