...a dying heart, a merry heart....

Mom continues to grow more tired. She hurts worse and more frequently. She has trouble breathing and has developed a cough. We are caring for her consistently and gently, doing almost everything for her, trying to keep her from having to do anything that might worsen any symptom. Except.......we laugh....... As we come and visit and sit around or call on the phone, invariably we come to some funny story, or "somebody" says something stupid and off we go! Giggling, laughing, guffawing until we can hardly breathe-especially Mama. But she loves it. Nothing suits her better than to join in for an extended, belly-wrenching, catch your breath so you can laugh some more session. We do these episodes well....and often.... Nothing is off limits. Nothing can be too embarrassing, too hard, too trivial or too personal to make fun of and laugh at. We watch and listen. Quickly enough, someone will misspeak, use the wrong word or mispronounce something and BAM! we're on it and off we go! Usually Mom sits on the couch, (sometimes out in the swing) and holds her hand over her mouth as tears run down her cheeks. She's not hurting. She's happy. We like it that way. She likes it that way.... "A merry heart does good like a medicine." We will continue to laugh.....who knows?