miracle cure...

Laughter. 

Have you ever stopped to process how absolutely powerful and healing it is?  I have more time to think while working now.  There are no colleagues stopping by to chat or phone calls interrupting the rhythm of my stitches.  I miss the folks I worked with, but I am comfortable in my silence.  It gives me so much time to think, to process, to savor the steps I am taking.   

Not so very long ago I came across an article that talked about the healing power of laughter.  It's lingered heavy on my mind since I read it.  I have spent many hours quietly stitching and processing laughter's amazing power.  

When I moved here I was quite ill, I truly think I had forgotten how to laugh.  I giggled a bit with my son, he was so small then, no where near the grown man that I miss so much.  But true laughter had fled.  I was in a dark spot that was getting darker due to my health and life issues. 

Enter the wonderful human that would become my Hubs.  If you have met him, or had the pleasure of him in your life you know that he loves to see people smile and laugh.  He brings joy with him, even in dark times the sparkle in his eye stays present. Within 18 months of moving here I was stronger and on the path to wellness again.  I even regained my ability to speak properly, thank goodness! He always says he cured me. 

I didn't feel like I disagreed exactly. I gave more credit to love, stability, being off all the medications that the crazy docs feel will cure you... but that is a rant for another time... I hadn't given the laughter enough credit. 

Over time, I realized that the happiest couples, friends, families spent a great deal of time laughing. Giggles that turn into hysterical cackling should be the norm. Hubs and I spend a lot of time laughing.  We are always on the search for the hysterical in ever situation.  Sometimes it's there, sometimes the situation is simply too dark. 

My one sister and her husband are always laughing and cracking jokes.  They have been married over thirty years, they are always in their happy place.  Again, laughter. My sisters and I can fuss like the dickens at one another, but we are always bound by a lifetime of laughter and shenanigans, and that always comes through the darker, growth times.  It's like a strand of gold that holds us forever bound.

Last night we were blessed to have one of our favorite couples over for dinner.   Even with heavy conversations and navigating hard news we filled the night with laughter and joy.  Dinner ended up lasting almost 4 hours.  Sitting out back in the treetop garden, everyone talking and joking, we quickly lost the sunset and saw the moon rise.  The cicadas were singing and the air was filled with a comfortableness that only happens between dear friends. 

I always jokingly (maybe) say my dear friend is more like me that I am myself.  We are crazy alike in our thoughts, feelings, and actions.  I know she is one of my tribe, our souls have traveled this journey together many, many times.  I have missed seeing her daily.  I have missed long chats, stupid laughter for no reason at all.  Last night reminded me of that.  

The past few months have been crazy busy for both of us.  We'd only managed to truly touch base a few times.  As things settle, I am looking forward to many more times where we can either sit by a campfire, or in the treetop garden or... well anywhere and just laugh and talk. 

Hubs and I had a blast with them last night.  It was fun to have everyone doing bits and pieces of dinner together and simply enjoying life. I am comfortable in my solitude.  I am joyous getting to know and dig deeper into who I am, but I realized last night how much I miss my friends.

I treasure those moments.  Family and friends are the dearest gift life gives us.  As everyone is moving at a different pace, in a different step through this journey called life, we will not always have the ability to agree, to visit, to laugh, to love.  There will be times when the people we love more than life itself will not have the time, energy, grace, or even comfort to be together.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't hold space and love for them.  It doesn't mean we quit trying, it doesn't mean we close them out of our lives.  It means we still love them and we wait for them to be ready for us to be part of their world again.

I sent them a message last night telling them that we absolutely could not wait so very long to be together again.  It'd been over a year since we all sat laughing around the dinner table.  It will not happen that way again.

Laughter heals.  Laughter can make a lot of bad things feel not so bad.  The old adage that laughter is the best medicine is 100% accurate. Laughing with your tribe... best medicine ever!

Just a thought, find the time to be with your tribe.  Find the joy and laughter in every situation.  It's there.  The dark times are simply the door you have to go through to reach better times.  I never believed that until recently.  But as my eyes are opening, my heart is understanding far more than I thought. I am finding that having faith in the universe only wanting the best for us and providing what we ask for is very, very powerful.