“Breathing in and out’s a blessing can’t you see…” Listen to the song above, it is so relaxing and puts appreciating life into plain terms.
While shopping in Maine, I was acting like a fool as I usually do in public, and dying laughing at Kyle’s jokes. We went shopping at “Levinsky’s!” which, if you live in maine, you know has ridiculous commercials displaying every single thing you could think of at insanely discounted prices with an overly excited announcer complete with a Maine accent. Well, Kyle was being this announcer saying “WE HAVE MIRR-AHS AT LEVINSKY’S!!” “VISAH’S FIFTY PAH-CENT OFF!” (This could be one of those you-had-to-be-there-moments but regardless I was laughing pretty hard).
As I was trying to tame my giggles, a woman came over to me, touched my shoulder, and said “Can I just tell you that I LOVE your laugh?! I’m serious, never stop laughing. You are probably the happiest person I have seen today.” Though I nervously giggled and thanked her, I wish I had told her that she made my day.
Having someone tell you they can TELL you are happy is such an amazing compliment. She recognized that I enjoy my life both behind closed doors and in public. I owe a lot of my public-display-of-happiness (PDH) to my mom, who always dances down the aisles of grocery stores and sings any song playing in the department store (and if there’s not one playing, she sings her own), never caring what people think of her, just happy to be alive.
I always make it a point to laugh or smile about SOMETHING during my day, regardless of how good my day is actually going. When I was very sick after a complicated sinus surgery in the hospital, one of the Housekeepers (Carlos– more about him in a future post) used to come into my room dancing around his mop, cracking jokes and he used to ALWAYS make me laugh. Leave it to me to have blood aspirated into my collapsed lung and still find a way to laugh.
I laugh (a little TOO hard) when I’m happy and I even find a way to laugh when I’m not. In the end, it’s not about dwelling on little hardships, it’s about finding a way to get through those hard ships, to not let those things get you down, to not waste time frowning (or at least if you do frown, make up for it by laughing as much as you can before or after). That’s why I appreciate every moment when times aren’t hard, when I’m feeling healthy, when the obstacle course is clear because who knows when the road I’m running on will steepen. That’s why I was laughing so hard in the store. I was with my boyfriend/best friend, he was being hilarious so I was enjoying myself, I was on a mini vacation from work, it was a beautiful day, and my lungs felt GOOD. I had no complaints, so why not enjoy every moment of it? Why not LAUGH so loud everyone can hear? Life is short, so why not crack a smile! Just be happy being “Alive and Well.”
