Wow – I need a breath of fresh air. Those last two were some pretty heavy topics.
I am a member of a writers group called LDS Storymakers and every year we organize and put on a writer’s conference. This year, for the first time, we went to a two day format and hired someone to come entertain us during dinner. Robert Kirby, the foremost lampoonist in LDS culture, shoot, in all culture, currently published in the Salt Lake Tribune. He has a keen understanding of LDS culture, if a little bit warped.
As I’ve mentioned before, my husband and I spent between four and five months sick this year, with my sweetheart, for five-and-a-half weeks of that time, in the hospital undergoing very, very scary things. It seemed as if it had been a very long time since we had truly laughed. Here are some of Robert Kirby’s columns.
Kirby: Gambling on a Thrilling Conference
Kirby: Magical Prom Memories
Kirby: Judging Burgers? It Helps to be Ravenous
Robert Kirby had us in stitches! Oh my word, I have never laughed so hard in my life. Alvin and I had a deep and uninterrupted sleep for the first time in months. So it led me to do a little research on humor. (I know, a little bit OCD, but what can I say?) So I Googled “benefits of laughter” and found sites such as: laughyoga.com (sounded promising, yes my eyeballs are rolled up in my head as I picture a room full of people twisted into unnatural pretzel like position laughing hysterically.)
So I guess I better just go with my thoughts. Laughter is good. It makes you slap-happy full of endorphins which are those funny little proteins that course through your brain making you feel euphoric. There are oodles of studies on the benefits of laughter, all good. (Unless you’ve just had abdominal surgery then the laughter has to be kept to a minimum for a time.)
So go out and laugh it up, folks. It’s all good.
P.S. By the way, you can check out Robert Kirby’s books by clicking on his name. (I love Sunday of the Living Dead). I’m just starting his Dark Angel, a novel that is not based on his columns.