Just recently I was asked by a client to go to New Zealand and present Laughter Yoga at an Executive Retreat. As I was going to be away for a while I thought I'd visit my mum in the Nursing Home where she is being cared for to tell her I'd be away for a while. When I told her where I was going she said "That's nice...that's where Robin lives"
Now Robin was a young lady who my mum and recently deceased step father met on a bus tour around New Zealand 28 years ago. They have been writing to each other ever since. And I'm talking envelopes and stamps here folks not emails and Facebook. So I told my mum I would visit Robin and say hi. My mum (bless her) said "here take a letter to her". I got my computer out and told her I would take an iMovie of her to show to Robin instead. Her video message was particularly moving...especially the part about the death of her second husband Cliff
Off I went to Auckland to meet Robin. She lives alone in her own home. She makes teddy bears as a hobby and has hundreds of them around her home. She suffers from scoliosis (curvature of the spine), epilepsy, osteoarthritis, and chronic pain syndrome. There were also some mental issues which I didn't explore. I showed her the iMovie of mum and we cried...and then laughed. We made an iMovie of her to my mum where we cried...and then laughed. She then told me the story of how her house was raided six years ago and all of her teddy bears were stolen. We cried...and then laughed when she showed me the new ones which she now protects by giving them to people to take away. I'm looking at my two now
I then said I had to go so we cried...but then we laughed as I took some pictures of her and then me on her motorized scooter terrorizing her local street. Finally with car keys in hand we embraced. She then whispered in my ear "I love you...you made me laugh. I haven't laughed since my teddy bears were stolen and I didn't think I'd ever laugh again" I got into the car and cried...and then laughed at what had just happened
Friends do not underestimate the Power of Laughter and I'll leave you with this thought..."Who have you made laugh today???"