I hope you have been laughing during Mother Nature’s crying jags (the ones that bring May flowers) because April is National Humor Month. Remember the first day of the month? The day when people delight in playing practical jokes on each other and acting like fools. Some jokes are funnier than others, but they do distract us from bad news on TV, real or fake!
“Laughter is the best medicine,” or so some people say. My mother’s favorite quote was, “Cry and you cry alone; laugh and the world laughs with you.” Usually she repeated this when I was doing my drama queen routine about how unfair life was treating poor me. She would tell me to go to my room and cry and carry on as much as I liked, but she was not going to be my audience. Being a drama queen without an audience is no fun at all, so I settled down. My mother was so clever.
It seems that laughter really is good medicine, because it releases tension and activates the immune system. In 1964 Norman Cousins, a research editor for Saturday Review magazine, developed a rare disease of the connective tissue. His doctor told him he had a 1 in 500 chance of survival, and that there would be pain!
Norman immediately checked out of the hospital and into a hotel room. He hired a doctor to treat him there and started having massive injections of vitamin C. Then he got hold of a projector (if you don’t know what this is, just Google it or ask an old person who was alive in 1964). He then proceeded to watch Marx brothers’ movies and laughed until his stomach hurt. Think about any movies that make you laugh until you cry or wet your pants. He watched them over and over and kept belly laughing. Norman died in 1990. Do the math. He extended his life by 26 years.
There is no proof that laughing kept him alive, but medical research shows that laughter is aerobic and activates the immune system, decreases stress hormones and distracts us from pain. For something that is free and has no known negative side effects, it is worth a try. Do it soon and often before insurance companies try to charge us for it.
There are classes for “Laughing Yoga.” Don’t pay to join one! Just stand-up straight and bend over while laughing as hard as you can for a couple of minutes. Laughter really is infectious so take a break and do it with friends or co-workers. Be sure to explain what you are doing to the boss, so he doesn’t suspect you of laughing at him. A mad or suspicious boss is NOT A LAUGHING MATTER!
George Bernard Shaw said, “You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.” So walk away from the wrinkle cream, put down the kale and have a few belly laughs.
My niece, Danielle, who is a great teacher but who has trouble remembering jokes, shared a couple of jokes that her students liked:
Have you heard the one about the sidewalk? It’s all over town.
Have you heard the one about the bed? It hasn’t been made up yet.
Why did the basketball player go to jail? He shot the ball.
I think all of the above jokes are called “groaners” and are meant for less sophisticated or immature people. I laughed at them because I think that “immature” is a word BORING people use to describe FUN people.
This is a joke for mature people:
What’s the difference between death and taxes? Congress doesn’t meet every year to make death worse.
Keep laughing, April isn’t over yet!
Lemon Pudding Dessert
1 cup cold butter, cubed
2 cups all purpose flour
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 8 oz. frozen whipped topping, thawed and divided
3 cups cold milk
2 pkgs., 3.4 oz. each, instant lemon pudding mix
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut butter into flour until crumbly. Press into ungreased 9×13 pan. Bake until light brown, 18-22 minutes. Cool pan on wire rack.
Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in 1 cup whipped topping. Spread over cooled crust.
Beat milk and pudding mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Carefully spread over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining whipped topping. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Serves 16.
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