In the golden days of my tender years, I used to read Nanna’s Reader’s Digest books. I particularly loved the pages titled, ‘Laughter is the best medicine!’ Some of those jokes were really hilarious. I love a laugh.
That was when I was quite young. It is true that children laugh a lot more than adults. Now I am over 60, I’m wondering if we take ourselves, and stuff in general, too seriously? Having a good laugh, sharing a joke, reading the funnies, viewing funny movies or comical YouTube videos, is all good for us. Laughter is supposed to be good for our immune systems, it can boost our mood. Sharing happy memories is good for our daily wellbeing.
What do you consider funny? Even ageing Baby Boomers can have our senior moments. Love a laugh? We can sing along to the supermarket music, it is ‘our generation’. Yes, we have outlived Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston and Davey Jones of the Monkees. Destiny protects us. People no longer think of us as hypochondriacs, we’re there! Love a laugh, all that private health insurance is now paying off!
Our vision is diminished, we are growing deaf, some of us have meds that make us dizzy and have blackouts, but hey, we’re lucky we are still driving. Even if we forget we are and drive through red lights. The speed restrictions no longer bother us, we are slow. “Look out, mothertruckers, say your prayers, I am about to do a U-turn in the middle of this busy highway.” Love a laugh. (We know rude hand gestures too.)
Then the Baby Boomers look in the mirror. How do we make all our wrinkles disappear? Easy, take off the spectacles. Now where are they? The glasses. Half an hour of frantic searching, glasses found on our heads. Or we are sitting on them. Love a laugh. How can you speed up your old man’s heart rate. Tell him you’re pregnant! What do over-60s say to each other when browsing antique shops? “I remember that!”
Where can over-60s meet handsome beaus or nubile young brides? In the fiction section of the local library! Love a laugh. If we stay awake long enough. Do seniors sleep well? Yes, but only in the afternoons. It is the guilt free nap of the ageing. I guess we have nothing hard left in life to learn.
I love a laugh, it is the best medicine. I hope you are chuckling too.