Columns

Someone has well said, “God must have had a good sense of humor, else God could not have made monkeys, pelicans and some of us.” Laughter gives us a wholesome attitude towards one another. When two people laugh together, there is a sense of belonging. Laughter carries with it sympathy for others; it tends to remove suspicion, doubts and antagonism. When we laugh together, we feel united, we are ready to forgive, and we begin to love. People cannot hate each other while they are laughing.

Anyone know who from Oldham County attended Nelson Mandela’s funeral on Air Force One this week? Who was backstage at the Tonight Show a couple of weeks ago, or who is leaving for Africa again tomorrow?

Let me assure you, it was not any of our local elected officials. It is not even any of the current residents.

In 1962 the good doin’ U.S. Army took me out of Philadelphia and put me into a strange place. It had strange people, strange food and strange language. It was South Carolina. I was there 16 to 17 weeks and got to like it. I even got used to and enjoyed grits (something I never saw growing up in the north).

Of my five children, one is in Australia for a year, one is at Purdue University, one is at IU and the other two are still young enough to be safely home with mommy. Thanksgiving was my first holiday to experience the joy of welcoming two kids home, while at the same time battling the melancholy that settled into my heart due to one child not celebrating with us at all.