Laugh, Laugh, Laugh...

When I was a child my grandmother, now 94 years old, taught me how treat others.  Not by telling me what was right or wrong, but by watching her interact with people of all ages!  She would talk to and carry on with people the same way no matter what their age was.  Most of all she would make people laugh either with her, or at something silly she had done.  She used that laughter in almost every situation in her life.

    Obviously, when things were good it came easy for her but when things were bad she would use it as well.  It helped keep her going and moving forward.  When I watched her care for my grandfather for over 2 years in their home, when he was dying from cancer, everyday she would make him laugh.  She never treated him like he was sick.  She took care of every need he had, but she did it in a graceful way that maintained his dignity, in a way that made him feel that even though he could not do the things he once had, that he was still the man she loved.  She would never complain or feel sorry for herself.  To me she always seemed to just take it one day at a time and have faith that everything would be alright.  If something broke or someone made a mess she would confront directly, with jokes, and just take care of it.  There was no embarrassment or shame; it happened, deal with it and move on.
When we age our hair turns grey, our skin gets wrinkled, everything sags, and we don't stand as tall as we once did.  However the people around us forget that, and we still enjoy all the things that we used to but most of all we still love to laugh.
If you have a funny story about something that has happened in your life because of aging, please share it...

 Try to remember LAUGHTER is essential to Aging with Ease!