The power of laughter

I was lucky enough to be invited to celebrate a girlfriend's 40th birthday in wine country yesterday and today.  I would only know her and two of her other good friends slightly, but the others were complete strangers to me.  It made me nervous. Would I have fun? Could we relate to one another? Would it be weird especially since we (the 7 of us) were sharing just 2 hotel rooms?

On the way up, we ended up with 6 women in one car. The 7th came up later due to work.  The trip started with us discussing how we knew the birthday girl. It ranged from 20+ years of friendship to 2 years. I started to notice the the 6 of us had a lot in common.  The youngest woman was 38 and the oldest 42. Obviously, we were good friends with the same woman and it became apparent why as we sat in the car.

The final piece for me was the discussion later that night that started with, "do you remember.......?" I don't think I've laughed that hard in a very long time.  And definitely not since June's news.  These ladies and I were born and raised in a small window of time.  And the 70's and 80's created some very .......ummm.... interesting cultural phenomenom.  Need proof?  Think neon paint splattered parachute pants, "16 candles," or rat tails.  If you don't know what these are then you are obviously younger than me. Google image them.

Ironically, some of our training this past week at my school site centered on stress, its effects on your body and brain.  A very powerful documentary.  Here it is.  Anyways, one of the "solutions" that the researchers talked about was how to alleviate this stress and its effects on our bodies. Of course, no surprise, one was laughter.  I believe the timing of this weekend was no accident. Call is Karma, God, or any thing/power you believe it.  I honestly think this weekend was as beneficial for me as it was for the birthday girl.  I laughed so much stress out of my body that I was in tears. Real, huge, non-stop good tears.  Trust me, I've cried a great deal since hearing the word melanoma but these tears were different.  They were healing tears. Stress relieving tears. And most importantly, connection tears. I was part of a wonderful group of woman who came together to celebrate a mutual friend's momentous day. That laughter was more powerful than any drug and I'm grateful to have gotten a two month dose.