Friday, October 16, 2020
Michelle Tyminski
Laugh
It was impressed upon me at a young age that laughter is important for our well being. I remember my father talking about bringing movies to the hospital to help my grandfather laugh. My grandfather had cancer and lived out his last months in a Boston hospital, separated from my grandmother who was in a different Boston hospital for a different type of cancer. In the early 70’s playing movies was not the simple task it is today. My father drove over an hour each way to the hospital. It involved a movie projector and a movie on a reel that would be fed into the projector and rotated onto another reel to play. Oh, and don’t forget the extra specially designed bulb in case the one in the projector blew out. Someone had to run the projector for my grandfather and then rewind the film back onto the original reel. Something simple that we take for granted now, was a labor of love back then!
I grew up as the oldest of five children in a household of very modest means. We lived frugally, but the ability to laugh was not in short supply.
Today, the need to laugh is more important than ever. The year 2020 has been a stressful time for all of us. If you have to leave the house to work, you worry about getting Covid, if you have been laid off, you wish you had the opportunity to go to work. If you have kids, juggling their school situation can be a job in itself! If you have someone at home in the Covid high risk category, just leaving the house can be stressful for fear you might bring it home. Regardless of your political affiliation the political commentary is depressing. The western coastline has been burning for months. And we are a nation feeling the weight of the Black Lives matter movement. While all these issues are important, none bring me joy or cause me to laugh.
This year I find it necessary to break away from the news and the computer to remember how to laugh. Today was one of those days, a family hiking day up north. The day started as four individuals. During the ride up north we started to reconnect and had some laughs. By lunch we were a cohesive group. At the end, the kids were able to look up at the landmarks we had passed along the ridge and acknowledge their accomplishment. All I had to do was look around at the happy, (but tired), faces of my family to feel that I had accomplished my goal. We had all needed to laugh together.
I hope you are all able to find the time and remember how to laugh! Be well!