I so miss my dad these days. The man had a hearty belly laugh and a sense of humor that could lighten any heart. He had to with his genetics. He had triple bypass at the age of 34, with two other vessels so far gone there was no place to bypass them. He lived almost 23 years after his bypass, despite smoking heavily most of those years, being in a high stress sedentary job, suffering two silent heart attacks, and having horrendous cholesterol levels. Genetics certainly were what killed him, but laughter sustained him all those years.
My big brother has that same sense of humor and knack for laughter. He can write a paragraph about making cookies and turn it into such an adventure that you’ll laugh hard enough to pee yourself. Not such an amazing feat now that I’m over 40 and have birthed three kids, however. But the two of them have that laughter quality. I love to laugh, but don’t seem to be able to pull that off under stress, when harried or frustrated. Definitely need to work on that.
Laughter is the best medicine according to God’s word, so it’s the best weapon I have to fight to stay alive for my kids. Genetics certainly aren’t helping me. Diet and exercise will be helpful, but only so much given genetic factors I have that make me at least 2-4 times more likely to die from a heart attack or stroke. But, I’m doing what I can. Down almost 20 pounds in the last two months. Doing cardiac rehab and taking my cholesterol meds, diabetes medicine, aspirin, beta-blocker and blood thinner, changing what I eat, and how much I eat.
Now it’s time for more of God’s medicine. His Word, trusting Him with my future and that of my kids, and being more proactive to pursue laughter…the belly laugh, wet your pants and snort, can’t catch your breath kind of laughter. Yeah. Lots of laughter.
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