Snowball

I made myself a snowball as perfect as could be.

I thought I'd keep it as a pet and let it sleep with me.

I made it some pajamas and a pillow for it's head.

Then, last night it ran away.

But first — it wet the bed.

— Shel Silverstein

Some of my grandchildren have e-mail, so I sent this silly poem to them, and of course they loved it.

It's fun to be silly sometimes. Life is just too darn serious unless we let loose once in awhile. Humor is good for our souls and it lightens our outlook.

Norman Cousins was proof of that. He's the man who discovered the power of humor when he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a spinal column illness that is incurable and fatal.

After trying some alternative remedies, he checked out of the hospital and holed himself up in his apartment for a month. He spent the time watching comedy movies or reading stories and jokes, because he discovered that his pain eased when he laughed.

When he had another checkup, doctors found no trace of the disease.

His answer to their queries was, "All I did was to laugh myself to health."

If you're a skeptic, check out his book, "Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient." There is also a movie about his experiences.

My friend, Tammy Runia, tells me she is a believer.

She read a book by Elaine St. James titled "Simplify Your Life." St. James suggests people laugh for five minutes every day. The author explains at first you may have to fake your laughter, becoming an actor and working at it before laughing occurs spontaneously.

Tammy decided to try it while on a short vacation with her husband, Scott. She took the opportunity to go upstairs to read the book while he was downstairs watching a basketball game on TV.

After reading the chapter again, she sat on the edge of her bed with her eyes closed to help visualize, and she began practicing different ways to laugh.

She said it was actually much harder than she'd anticipated, and she was beginning to feel discouraged and embarrassed when she heard a noise and stopped.

Yep! It was her husband Scott, who thought she had lost her mind. He just stood there shaking his head; that's when she started laughing for real; she couldn't stop!

Tammy told another good friend how the laughter experiment had helped her. That friend then convinced her two teenagers to try it. They practiced before school each morning. They said it changed their lives by making them more positive and able to deal with being teens.