Laughter the Best Medicine

Consider this from a "staying young" book given to me by a friend this past Christmas:

"Laughing lowers blood pressure, increases oxygen in the blood with deeper respirations, and helps address the effects of mental stress on the arteries. And you can't beat the price."

Having grown up in a family that prized jokes and laughter, I have always aspired to more and more of it, not less. But the last decade or so in the Washington, D.C. area made laughing seem out of place somehow. Thus, when I retired to Mississippi, I looked forward to friends and family whose LQ (Laughter Quotient) was at least as high and as hungry as mine. I'm happy to say I have not been disappointed.

Today at Easter dinner, for example, the eight adults at the table had tales to tease, tickle and tell that invariably led all of us to laughter. Never mind that at least two of the stories had been twice-told a hundred times, we all still roared at the punch line--not for politeness, but for jolly good fun and shared memory of youth and of happier times.

So, now I ask you: did you hear the one about...? Pass it on. It'll bring your blood pressure down!