Laughter is the best medicine... or so the saying goes. Medicine makes me think of the some off brand, cherry-flavored cough syrup my mom used to put a on a spoon for me whenever I wasn't feeling well or the colorful capsules that my little sister had the hardest time swallowing. It doesn't exactly conjure up the happy thoughts that would make Peter Pan fly.

So why exactly do we say this? Is it because laughter requires no pricking, sticking, or shoving crap down our throats? "No pain, no gain" just doesn't apply? I think so. I mean think about it. When something makes you laugh, doesn't it just instantly make your heart glad? It may not "fix" your situation or "better" your crappy day, but for the moment... you feel happy. I would say that we do NOT laugh nearly as much as we should on a daily basis and if we did, I think our attitudes would be drastically different.

Life isn't always donuts and rainbows. Sometimes, actually, life is absolutely horrible. We don't always get what we want. Our boyfriends live far away. Our grades are slipping. We no longer fit into our "skinny" jeans... or our "fat" ones. We keep trying but life keeps shoving its fat rear-end in the way of our happiness. But we need to learn to laugh at ourselves, to throw our heads back and let out a chuckle. We need to realize that just about everything is going to go wrong at some point. People are going to disappoint and our plans may never pan out. But we can do something that can instantly make us feel better... Find the humor in the situation. Laugh at the crap. Trust me, it really works. I discovered just how true this is when I accidentally became a brunette this week (and I assure you it WAS an accident). If you don't believe me, try it. What's the worse that can happen?

I copyedited a book a while back and the author asked this question:

What's your feelings got to do with it?

Passion overrides your feelings.
Or, well, it should.
We all have days when we simply don't feellike it.
Right?
We hit the snooze button, we skip over our class, we call in sick.
We coast through the day because, heck, we just don't feel like doing
anything.Maybe in the back of our heads we feel some twinge of guilt,
but in the moment we are completely content in being lazy.
Or at least, we try and convince ourselves we're satisfied with ourselves.

Now, I'm not condemning those of us who have "lazy days."
If that were the case, I'd be screwed.

I am, however, criticizing this lazy mentality.
How many things do we say we want to do in life? How many aspirations
do we have, only to cast them so easily aside cause it got a little
tough? Cause we just didn't feel like it?
We are lazy, lazy people.

When I say "We" I really mean "ME."
In December I was very excited about running this marathon in April.
Now, I just feel like being lazy. I don't want to take 2-3 hours of my day
to run around nasty, boring Norman. I don't want to NOT drink soda. I
don't want to watch what I eat. And most importantly, I don't want to do
anything that makes me get my lazy buns off the couch.

See what I mean?
I'm letting my FEELINGS override my PASSION for running.

So from now on, whenever I don't FEEL like doing something,
I'm simply going to ask myself this question:

"What's your feelings got to do with it?"


Goal: OKC Memorial Marathon
Date: April 25
Mission: 4 hours

Worth Waiting For

I LOVE weddings.

The flowers, the pictures. The smiles, the tears.

Everything is so beautiful, powerful even. No matter the

location. No matter the duration of the ceremony. All weddings

have something special, something glorious about them.

This weekend, I got to watch someone I've known for my 21 years

of life make a promise to a woman he is head over heels in love with.

It was obvious to me and the other 700 people watching. He loves

her. He wants her today, tomorrow, forever. They just belong together.

Have you ever really thought about weddings? I mean, really

thought about them? You're watching people make THE most

monumental decision of their ENTIRE lives.

It's a big, big deal.

After that kiss, they're never going to be same person you knew

before that wonderful walk down the aisle.

From that point on, they're a package deal. Salt and Pepper.

Peanut butter and jelly. John Mayer and a microphone. You

can't have one without the other. They are together, forever.

Till death kisses them goodbye.

On the one hand, I think HOW crazy? People grow, evolve, and change

all the time. How can you possibly believe that in 50 years, 5 years,

or even 5 days from now you're going to be able to say "This is

still the person I want to spend my everyday with."

It seems crazy, borderline insane. How can you know? Why would

you risk it?

On the other hand, I believe in God's sovereignty. I believe He

brings people together in His goodness and He sustains them

to love and grow together. It's beautiful and it's something I can't

wait to experience, to have on a daily basis not just the day I

get to put on an elegant, white dress.

For this reason, I know it's something to truly work toward.

A wedding, I can't wait to have. But a marriage, I can hold off for.

It deserves effort and time, prayer and guidance. I don't want to

rush it. Rather, I want to be able to truly look in my husband's eyes

on our wedding day and say, with absolute certainty, "I take you to have

and to hold from this day forward..."

Whether that's a year from now, or 30 years from now. I want to be

absolutely certain because a good marriage is worth waiting for.

........

The flower toss doesn't lie though. So maybe it won't have to be 30 years! (Fingers

crossed)

Is aspiration the only requirement for success?

Is motivation the only underlying theme we need

for our inevitable victory?

Sometimes I think that's all it takes.

We just need to want it badly enough. Reach high and

somehow you will achieve greatness.

Other times, I think that's a load of crap that my second

grade teacher, Mrs. Courren, started telling me.

"You can do anything you set your mind to."

"Believe in yourself."

"Dream big."

And all that other bologna, these overly-encouraging

teachers shove down their ignorant students' throats.

I mean think about it. I could say that I aspire to be an Olympic

athlete. I mean, c'mon, who doesn't?

I would love to receive a gold medal in marathon runnning.

Again, who wouldnt?

But just because I want this or dream about it doesn't

exactly make this possible. A 5'1'' little white gal who averages

an 8.5 min pace and has to take 5 strides for every one of yours

isn't exactly "olympian" material.

Right? Right.

Today I got my first short story back. B. I can't think of a worse grade.

To me, B says "average, ordinary, eh." That's not exactly something

I want my teacher to be thinking after reading something I put so

much time and energy in.

So immediately following class, of course, I had a mid-college

"What-the-heck-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life" crisis.

[The best pick-me-ups I have found consist of Cane's chicken

and Glee music. Put together for best results]

I want to be a writer, an editor for a large publishing house.

I have an internship. I read all the time. I frequently practice writing.

But is that enough?

Is this aspiration, this dream all I need?

At what point do we stop "dreaming" and start "seeing"?

I think I need a strong dose of realism from time to time in order

to keep myself from wanting too much.

I don't want to be like the 8-year-old I nanny, who desperately

wants to be an NBA player. Sure, it's cute. But it's not going to

happen. I mean, take one look at him and you'd agree.

I sound a bit pessimistic, don't I?

I guess I'm just trying to put things in perspective.

Sure, I'm "working" toward my goal. I'm not just audibly saying that

it's something I want to do like my silly Olympic dream.

But, even with all this hard work, who's to say that it won't all

be in vain? Who's to say that I could work the hardest, be the

most diligent and most emphatic about wanting this to occur...

yet it still may never happen for me.

I guess the answer is to be a mixture, a "reamer" if you will.

We shouldn't stray away from our dreams, yet we should

have a proper perspective for our possibilities.

After all, what are we without dreams and goals?

I guess I just don't want to be blindsided. I don't want to look

up from my the pages of my life in 5 or 10 years and wonder

why it didn't work out the way I hoped, the way I planned.

I want to dream big, but in a realistic sphere. I want to be

a reamer.

"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers

of the dream. Wandering by lone sea breakers, and sitting by desolate

streams. World losers and world forsakers, for whom the pale moon

gleams. Yet we are movers and the shakers of the world forever it seems.”