Laughs of the week

I've been having a week that has given me many laughs. And the funniest thing is, what I am laughing at is myself.

I had the privilege of attending the March meeting of the Nevada Athenas as their guest speaker. Since I was given the choice of anything I wanted to talk about, I chose to talk about my books and how they had led me to a new career as an Elderhostel (Exploritas) instructor. Since they were meeting at the Country Club for a luncheon, first I had decided that I probably should not try to eat the big meal I knew I would be offered. Sometimes it isn't a good idea to eat before a speaking engagement.

But when the meal arrived, there was no way I could say no. Having spent several days by Lester's hospital bedside before he came home, I had not had very many full meals where I sat down to eat in leisure. So I ate it all, even the lemon meringue pie. I know you are waiting to hear me say that when I got up to speak that I did something disgraceful, but I had no problems at all with my nice meal. I only coughed a little during the talk, but didn't make any other questionable noises.

But I was laughing at myself for nearly missing the best meal I had had in over a week, and decided that I would never again postpone enjoying a nice meal because of fear of what might happen if I did.

I received a nice mug as a thank-you gift from the president. I started to drink from it the next morning and realized that the mug must have been intended for someone who is left-handed because when I held it in my right hand the pretty design and lettering was on the other side. Well, duh, the lettering says, "I was a guest speaker at the Athenas, Nevada, Missouri". If that had been on the side toward me I could read it but anyone I was with could not have known of my honor. So naturally the lettering is away from the one holding the mug.

I mentioned that I coughed during the presentation. The next morning I decided with much encouragement from Lester, to finally go to a doctor about my cough. As I sat on the examining table the doctor had a nice little black instrument in her hand. She asked me if she could look in my ear. I don't remember ever having to give permission before, but I said, "Of course". She waited a second and then nicely asked me if I could remove my hearing aids! That really tickled me so I laughed which made me cough again. But we made it through the examination and got some costly medicine. Of course Lester got the last laugh since he had been after me for a week to go to the doctor but I had resisted since it was his turn for medical attention.

I'm not going to tell you all the other things that made me laugh at myself, because it will make you think I am a real weirdo. There isn't anyone who hasn't had a few moments like I did. I know I'm not the only one who tries to change channels on the TV by punching in the station numbers on the cordless telephone. It doesn't work very well.

Other people also check the dryer when the timer goes off on the oven. It doesn't take me too long to realize that an empty dryer doesn't buzz.

Anyway, this week has shown me that I am not good at multi-tasking and that it is healthy to do these stupid things because a big laugh is good for you.