Laughter, the best medicine

Sometimes in life you say things you don't mean and sometimes words cross your lips and you're like, "I said WHAT???"  That happened to me today.  I was getting my hair done and complaining about my gray hair.  In fact, today was the first day I had to finally break down and get all over color.  I was complaining about being 40......wa wa!  I even went so far as to tell my almost 30 year old hair dresser all the things I loved about being 30 then I realized how I must have sounded, like a crotchety old lady who can never think of anything nice to say.  I certainly didn't want my 30 year old hair dresser to think 40 was that bad and here's where the story turns around.  When I realized my words were going down the wrong path I started to share with her all the things I love about being 40 and it hit me like a ton of bricks, I laugh more now that I ever have.  As I said the words I hadn't realized that fact until I actually said it but it's true.  I love the season of my life that I'm in with my family.  Just today Jay had us in gales of laughter over a story about school.  Nick had me cracking up tonight when we were talking about our family vacation.  My mom and I share a belly laugh together every day.  And the best part is Mike and I laugh more together now than we ever have and trust me, our marriage is built on laughter but now we see the humor in everything.  We are entertained by our dogs which I realize makes us old but it's true.  We love making fun of their personalities together and are quite entertained by them.  Rather than laugh at each other, we laugh with each other.  Just today I went to get on the treadmill while it was moving and classic Amy move, I missed it and tripped.  I immediately started cracking up and Mike started chanting his "handicapped" song to me that he always does when I do something crazy like that.  Now that we're 13 years into parenting, we have learned we'll never survive it without laughter.  On Valentine's Day, I planned a night out for Mike and I that happened to include a vow renewal ceremony.  I failed to mention that aspect of the evening to my husband because I knew he'd do it.  It wasn't that I wanted to surprise him, I just wanted to hear the speakers who were speaking at the event.  We showed up and when they gave Mike the vow renewal certificate, he asked what the certificate was for.  He was told it was the vow renewal certificate.  Mike's shockingly quick response was, "Vow renewal, I thought we were going to Bass Pro Shop!"  We continue to laugh over that over that incident and I'm sure it will be a Valentine's day we'll laugh about for years.  So even though my hair is gray and my metabolism is in the toilet, my stomach muscles get a work out everyday from laughter and that my friends is the best anti aging fighter I can think of.