The Priceless Gift of Happy

Jimmy Fallon ended up in the hospital recently and had to spend 10 days in the ICU hoping his finger made a full recovery.

That's not what this blog post is about...well kind of.

When he came back on air this week he was talking about reading Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl while in the hospital and Jimmy decided that being on air and making people laugh, who are in the ICU or at home, was his life's meaning.

Which REALLY hit home for me. You see, when Aaron was in the hospital for weeks and weeks, I really needed a laugh. Aaron and I would watch Family Feud all the time and try and play along and I'm a huge Jimmy Fallon fan so that's how I would try and wind down my nights. I remember thinking how weird it was that this random guy I didn't know was making my life brighter and he didn't even know. He didn't know who I was and I was thousands of miles away.

But I also had people close to me (most, not geographically) who made me laugh.

I had Bob Pettit who when I asked for prayers to God or whoever you believed in told me his was going to make a blood sacrifice or something totally inappropriate like that. It made me smile. That was a scary couple of days but I remember that because it made me laugh.

I had Meg Straw who attacked my Facebook wall with silly nonsense when I asked for people to be positive for me. Seriously, her stuff was thw very definition of random and the best. She normally makes me smile but I appreciate so much that she went out of her way to be goofy for me.

I had Clarise, Geoff, and Andy messaging me being totally silly and serious whenever I needed them. Making everything seem funny instead of grim when I needed to keep moving forward.

Brie Manoel all the way in Australia sent me my very own copy of Anne of Green Gables. One of my all time favorites and hilarious too. That book even came with me when i was hospitalized. 

My brothers when they were in town. They might have been TOO silly. We nearly busted Aaron open after his second surgery because we were being ridiculous and Aaron was getting a painful case of the giggles. My blood pressure would spike up when my brothers were around because even while sitting, I was laughing so much it counted as a workout. So maybe they should have toned it down a little.

And there were more people. I mean, Michelle Harnish was try desperately to help. Donating blood!! Sending a care package and giving me sympathy while keeping things light.

None of these people felt like they did anything for me. They would all say,"I wish there was something that I could do to help but I don't know what I can do."

But they WERE doing it. They were lifting my spirits and really, if I had to keep moving forward, that lift was vital.

 I humbly thank everyone who put a smile on my face or a giggle in my heart. I'm so grateful that in some of our families darkest days we had friends who could share their light sith us. It's easy to be positive when I positively have the best friends surrounding me.