Have you laughed today? I recently heard a statistic that, while quite frankly isn’t surprising, it is, at least to me, sad.

​And that statistic?

Kids laugh 3-500 times a day….

Adults? A paltry 5 times a day…..

Is there any wonder why the world seems to be a stressed to the max, over-worked, uptight and ornery group of people most of the time?
Is there any wonder why the illness rate is rising?

My husband and I have long known that humor and laughter is the best medicine. It is free, you don’t have to have insurance, you don’t need a prescription and most of all – it’s fun! We watch cartoons like Kung Fu Panda and most recently, Monsters vs. Aliens.
My favorite in Monsters vs. Aliens is “Bob”, the one-eyed blue blob, who in my opinion is the funniest and makes everyone (even in the cartoon itself) laugh. So, when I recently had my chemo-induced neuropathy foot surgery, they had to pin 3 toes. When I awoke from surgery, I looked at my foot, only to notice I had 3 “Bob’s”, looking at me. (They were the caps to the pins.)

When they removed the pins, I asked the doctor if I could have my “Bob’s”. He gave me a quizical look. After explaining who “Bob” was, he shook his head, and guess what? He got a smirky grin and laughed. Mission accomplished!! (BTW my husband is going to make a foot replica so we can make it look like what you see in the photo so when I speak, if I’m not getting people to laugh …well – you get the picuture (groan – or is that a smirking laugh I just heard across the cyber waves?!)

So this Memorial Day weekend, remember our fallen comrades who fought so valiantly to keep this country free and to thank those who continue to fight and work to keep us the “home of the brave”. But don’t forget to laugh as well –  bringing a smile to those we love and for those who serve.

It’s ok to be a Toys “R” Us® Kid – who says you have to “grow up”?
Right, Kamal?

I’m glad Glenn Beck isn’t afraid to stand out. Even if it is alone. Which he’s not – not by a long shot!!
It took me a while after wrapping my chemo-hit by a drunk driver brain that Glenn Beck is the SAME Glenn (but light years different!) as the Glenn who, I would count down the days on the calendar each year how many days it would be until we could visit his dad’s bakery in Mt. Vernon, WA.  It was our dad’s “treat” for enduring the hour’s drive in his 1956 Chevy with a trunk full of FRESH chicken manure from one of his Coast Guard buddy’s farm who lived near Mt. Vernon.  My dad would use the manure for his humongous, incredible raspberries that we would grumble about having to pick mid-summer. We’d stop the grousing when my dad would remind us of EXACTLY how many day’s we had until we got to visit “Bill’s Bakeery” again (Glenn’s dad’s bakery).
It took my also brain injured brain longer to realize it was Glenn’s mother’s story that I so painfully read and listened on the radio about, while going to college in Tacoma, where I lived overlooking Commencement Bay. I had lost my mother a few short years earlier, so it made it that much harder.
Fast forward 10 years or so and now my bionic arms and leg and proto-type interior prosthetic leg (seriously! A study for Seattle surgeons), had to grasp with my differently abled brain, that since my mother had taken the drug DES, a drug to prevent miscarriages, I, unfortunately would not be able to bear my own children. It was an unforeseen side effect at the time. But no worries. God would find a way – He always does.
But c,mon God – seriously?  Our adopted son’s foster brother is now the Executive Chief of The Blaze magazine? The amazing person who had a huge hand in leading my son into a life of what life ‘should’ be like, but who also had a huge hand in leading our son into a person relationship with the God of Abraham, Issac, Jacob and more?  And that not only has Glenn and his wonderful wife experienced adoption, they also have travelled and travailed the trail of cerebral palsy and the journey that only a parent who has walked that road can understand…and how proud we are now that our children are grown and functioning and working in meaningful jobs, and walking where they are led.
My husband and I, like Glenn and Tania are not always popular. Maybe distained is a better word? (Or “Steel Wool Teddy Bears” which I would rather like to say!)
 Our views, like the Beck’s, are often years before they will (often unfortunately) be called ‘today’. Oh, how many days we wished our ‘assignment’ and our words would not come true. But oh so many days they do.
I’m not sure if the Beck’s have a ‘verse’ that is ‘theirs’ like Bill and me. But 38 years ago we were told: “Go up to the mountains, bearer of Good News; Say to the peoples ‘HERE’ is your God.
Look at your hand. Right now. Look at your hand. No, REALLY look at it. “Here is your God”: aka: this is where your ‘calling’, your ‘assignment’, your sphere of influence is.
At the end of your hand is where you are going to love your neighbor. It is where you will lend a helping hand. It is where you will make a difference. It is how we will stand together, hand in hand, and change this world, how we will make a difference.
It is who we are. Real. Different. BE-ing.
Look again at your hand. The place you are called to may change, but the ‘call’ never does. It is at the end of your hand, wherever you go, where YOU will make a difference.
I go to the calendar. How many days until we get to go get manure, Dad? You know, manure – aka: fertilizer, or as I have come to say: Miracle Grow!
How many more days?

Part I: Why?
Recently I was asked “why would you be willing to PAY for a subscription to The Blaze TV when you have it already on your cable station?”
My answer was easy. “It’s a no- brainer, besides a kind of “pay-it forward.”
Think back. When was the last time you could sit in front of the TV, and listen and FEEL like you were sitting right there, conversing back and forth? (Besides occasionally seeing some of my IE friends chatting and enlightening the listener/watchers?!)
While I do not agree with Glenn Beck 100% of the time, (and I HOPE he doesn’t agree with me 100%, either, there IS something I agree 100% with him on.
We can agree to disagree. I agree to not take him at HIS word – to look facts up for myself. I agree to decide for myself. I agree to not be a follower, swept up by the tide of wanna be’s or don’t wanna be’s:
I agree to: BE DIFFERENT. BE INFORMED (which means checking your sources often check more than one source.
I agree to: BE REAL. Be YOU.
I want more out of life than to waste it with idle chatter. I want meaning. I want substance. I want fun. I want life. I want reality. I want TRUE HONESTY.  I don’t want easy.  I want my work to speak for itself.
So does that answer the question? It really is a no brainer.