Day 16: Friday Night Dates & Laughter

 
We had a great, great date last night (Friday).  I cannot even begin to express how much I enjoy spending time with my husband (obviously a good thing...).  He really is my best friend and we always laugh so much when we're together.  Dalin always thinks of the funniest things to say and I try my best to keep him laughing, too.  We certainly are far from perfect and sometimes argue like we've been married fifty years, but we are quick to apologize and quick to forgive. I think that is the best way to have a happy marriage. That, and loads of laughter.

Anyway, we went to see "Let There Be Light" on campus. Both our lovely cousin Paige Petersen, and our good friend Anthony Miller are in the BYU Concert Choir. The performances were beautiful and the Spirit was very strong particularly during the hymns about Christ (which the majority of them were!).  I think my personal favorite performance was when the Concert Choir and BYU Singers sang "Morning Has Broken" together.  I absolutely love that song.

After the concert, we met four other couples at Red Robin for dinner.  Anthony and Mallory came, Jason and Eva, Derek and his date (who was from Boston!), and Andrew (new friend) and Allyson. We had a blast playing hang man and trying to name various countries. We told lots of stories and shared lots of laughs.

Then we stopped at the Creamery to pick up some ice cream and headed to Jason, Anth, and Derek's apartment to play some games. We started with "Reverse Charades." Most hilarious game ever. We laughed until our throats were sore. Then we played my game--which I took from my favorite Aunt Molly and Uncle Andy--"Bea Arthur." We laughed some more and finally had some ice cream and hurried out to our car at 1:30am so we wouldn't get towed.  It was a wonderful night.

I am thankful for Friday night dates and for laughter!

Things you might not have know about laughter:

Those who laugh frequently tend to live YEARS longer than those who rarely laugh!

"Statistics show that little kids laugh 400 times a day. One study showed that grownups laugh only eleven.  Proverbs tells us, “Laughter is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.”  Now there is medical evidence to corroborate that theory.  Volumes are written today on the therapeutic benefits of laughter.  

Dr. William Fry of Stanford University Medical School likened laughter to a form of physical exercise.  It’s like jogging on the inside.  It lowers your blood pressure and heart rate, improves lung capacity, massages internal organs, increases memory and alertness, reduces pain, improves digestion, and lowers the stress hormones, cortisol and adrenalin.  It’s good for the muscles involved in laughter, your chest and abdomen, and it exercises those muscles not involved.  Dr. Fry said that laughing 100-200 times per day is the cardiovascular equivalent of rowing for 10 minutes.  I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather laugh than row.   

Besides physical benefits, laughter also has psychological gains.  It teaches us to be out of control, brings us into the moment, helps us transcend our problems, brings us closer to people and helps us think more clearly."

LAUGH!