TIME TO LAUGH

By: Dr. Kim Leis-Keeling

Guilderland, NY - Laughter is the best medicine. Hopefully by the time this article comes out we will be headed back to “life before quarantine.” But regardless I’m sure you could all use a good laugh right now. I’ll share a few of the stories that my kids love to hear repeatedly. When my kids get bored and want to laugh, they will say, “Mom, tell us more of your stories.” When I was a kid, I wanted to be a comedian. I loved to tell jokes, make people laugh and I was a bit of a prankster. Over the years, as I have shared childhood tales with my kids, I’ve had to rate my stories based on my kids ages, similar to movie ratings (G, PG, PG-13). Here are a few of their favorites.

The Teeth Story rated G. When my son Tristan was about 8 months old, we went to visit my mother in Wisconsin. She wanted to take him to church with her so away we went. During the sermon, Tristan was sitting on mom’s lap facing her. She was doing her best to keep him entertained during this long-winded speech. Suddenly, I hear this clanking and rattling noise. I looked to the left to see what the noise was. My mother’s eyes were about as big as golf balls and she looked terrified. Tristan had his hand in her mouth with a death grip on her bottom teeth. He was pulling out her false teeth and she was chomping her mouth up and down trying to keep them in her mouth. I busted out laughing, she started laughing and within minutes we both had tears rolling down our faces from laughing so hard. The rest of the service was a laugh fest. You know things are ten time funnier when you are in a situation where you are supposed to be quiet and serious.

The Jello Story rated G: I grew up on a farm, which I think most of you know by now. When I was about 10 years old remember a time when we were having an issue with our baby calves. They were having some issue with diarrhea and all dying. The veterinarians couldn’t get things under control, my dad was panicking, and my mother was getting desperate. Then she had this bright idea. She said “I’m gonna feed that calf Jello. Because if I can get the calf to drink the Jello while it is warm, it will harden in its stomach and make the poop normal.” That makes total logical sense, right? Well, here we go. We debated about what flavor Jello a calf would like, strawberry or grape. We decided it would like strawberry. I can still see my mom in the kitchen filling this giant calf bottle with warm red Jello. We both ran as fast as we could out to the barn (before it starts to set) and fed as much as we could to that calf. Needless to say, it didn’t work and we lost the calf. It is so funny to look back at that story.

The Chocolate Chip Story rated PG-13: Okay, I did mention I was a bit of a prankster. After I graduated college I lived in an apartment. There were 4 of us, 2 girls and 2 guys. One night when my roommate Ray was going out with his friends, I put chocolate chips in his bed…knowing that they would melt all over him when he slept. The next morning, we were eagerly anticipating him to get up as we waited in the living room. Then we heard him scream “Oh my god! What the HELL!” Ray comes running out of his room in his underwear… ”Guys, I think I s*** myself last night!” The rest of us were rolling on the floor laughing so hard. He was covered head to toe in melted chocolate!

I hope you got a good laugh or chuckle. Laughter truly is the best medicine. We all have that one friend that always makes us laugh. Make sure to call that person as often as possible and spend time with them when we all can go out and play again! As always, if you have a health concerns please feel free to contact the Sports & Spinal Wellness Center at 518-869-3415 or visit our website at www.sportsandspinalwellness.com. We would love to be a part of your healthcare team.