“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.”   Victor Hugo

When I was teaching drama to children, one of them came to me and asked, “Mrs. Boecher, why do you have so many lines on your face?”  I replied, “From working with darling, little children like you.”  It seemed to satisfy her.  The truth is, I started wrinkling at a very young age. As with many comedians, humor is really a mask used to cover the feelings going on within, but it can also prove to be a safety net to put you back in service. Actually humor can also let you forget about those ugly things in your life for a little while. It won’t eliminate them, but it will take away some of the sting.  I learned early on that laughter was very good medicine.

I come from a long line of laughers.  No, they weren’t hyenas! My mom was the queen of the chortle and guffaw.  She laughed in almost every situation.  She laughed at things that weren’t even funny.  I find myself doing the same these days.  She taught me, that even in the tough times, we can find something to laugh about if we look for it. When you look for joy, you will find it, but sometimes you have to look very hard.

Life isn’t a joke, however, and there will be times of negativity.  There will be days when the kids have defaced the living room walls with graffiti; when your kitchen sink is up to the ceiling with dishes; when bills are mounting; when you lose a job; face death – all times when you are so overcome, you simply cannot laugh.  Tears can also be great medicine for healing.

“In the process of looking for comedy, you have to be deeply honest. And in doing that, you’ll find out here’s the other side. You’ll be looking under the rock occasionally for the laughter.” Robin Williams