Laughing is Good

My mother's surgery was scheduled for 8:00 this morning, but she had to wait until almost noon before they started.  Danny was on his way to the hospital when I called him to say they haven't even started yet. So, he came over to the house to hang out and we decided to go to Wal-Mart.

The Wal-Mart in Venice is always jam-packed with people running to and fro and it is impossible to get a close parking space anywhere near the front door.  You would think they were giving things away, there were so many people.  I drove the scooter and Danny took a cart as we loaded up all the necessities that we both needed.  We scooted through the store as quickly as possible and went back out into the Florida heat.

It has been in the 90's with probably 100% humidity since I've been here.  Albeit, this is good weather for swimming and for the beautiful trees and flowers, but not for anything else.  I don't know how people live down here without air conditioning.  I would simply die.  It feels like a huge sauna.  To look at it positively, I guess all this sweating is good -- I may even lose some weight, which would really please my mother.

My parents, but especially my mother, have always been overly-obsessed about weight.  I was a chubby kid from infancy.  Most kids are well-fed but not overfed, as my mother felt necessary with my brothers and I.  But I really can’t blame her too much for that -- the thought in the fifties was that it was healthy for a child to be well fed.  And of course, the “Eat all of the food on your plate, because there are children dying of hunger in China” syndrome, mixed Jewish guilt with that distorted view of physical health.  To this day, I have a compelling force to finish everything on my plate, whether I am stuffed or not.  The irony of all of this is that when I became an adult, I was ostracized by my own mother for being overweight!!

My mom came through surgery well and is resting tonight.  She was pretty out of it when we left her earlier.  Hopefully they keep her in the hospital a few days so she can rest and heal.  I took my dad home and then Danny and I went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant and had a delicious dinner.  He tried to explain the stock market to me, which I still don't understand.  We had a good talk - we make each other laugh and that's always good.  Laughing, I believe, is one of the best forms of medicine.  I read once that "laughing is exercise for the soul."  I believe that.  I also believe God has a sense of humor.  I think it pleases Him to see us happy. 

I ended this busy day by floating around in the clear, smooth pool as the sun was going down.  It was very peaceful and refreshing.  Tomorrow, I am checking out a church to go to in Englewood.  The church I went to last week was ok, but made me feel uncomfortable.  The preacher shouted his sermon from start to finish and I don't mean preached -- he shouted.  I tried to follow him, but he lost me halfway through.  The person in front of me kept turning around, touching my shoulder, to make sure I was following the message, since I was a "visitor."  They called out all the visitors in the beginning and I, of course, had to raise my hand.  When I left, a young man followed me out to the car and wanted to pray with me in the parking lot and I politely thanked him but said I had to leave.  As I was driving out, I saw him praying with a couple who were visitors also, on the sidewalk outside of the church.  That type of church "friendliness" is not my style - I would never do that to someone else - it feels like you're being accosted.  God wants us to be known by our love for one another.  Love is what draws people to Him - not cowboys trying to hog-tie and corral people in.