Laughter is the best medicine

Laughter is a mysterious thing, it can help in many ways, It can help with someone who is grieving to lighten the mood, it can help someone who is upset one day and a good joke can bring a smile to their face and that could have fixed their day. I remember a time when this happened to me, It was a warm winter day the sun was out and I had just got a new knife for Christmas from my parents and I wanted to go and try it out see how sharp it was. So i went out back try to cut some branches off a few trees and it cut it like butter. I was impressed with this knife already and wanted to try it on something a little bit bigger, give it a challenge and see how it could handle the test.So I saw this tree that was less than an inch thick and I decided to try to cut some of it down, since it was on my walking path and was in the way. So I thought it would be a good idea to get rid of the tree and make room for my family to walk on this path that I was trying to keep clear and accessible, so I started to use the saw end of my knife  and started to saw away at it. After a few good thrust my arm sawing at the tree I noticed that it wasn’t doing much so I took out the straight blade and was able to pull the tree over and held the tree so it had pressure on it to make it cut easier and after a few solid and deep cuts the tree finally gave way, and at that very moment in time I knew I had messed up. The knife went through the tree with so much force that my hand was caught in the crossfire, the knife blade hit into my left index finger and at first nothing happened it just stung. Then blood started to come out of my finger and I waved my hand to try to stop the sting but when I realized that it was a deep cut I laughed and stuck my finger in the snow because I couldn’t tell how bad my finger got cut. I started to laugh at that moment because not even ten minutes earlier my father told me to be careful that knife is very sharp. I kept laughing and trying to get my father’s attention and once I did he looked and said in a worried and playful laugh “you fool what did I tell you.” We both laughed and he went back inside to grab a towel and got my finger taken care of. That was six years ago and to this day we both laugh about it, my mom not so much but she still is able to crack a smile when we tell the story over again to people. I now look at my finger almost every day to see a scar on my left index finger and it reminds me everyday to be careful and pay attention to whatever I’m doing and that day I learned that I could laugh at things in stressful situations and find that silver lining things that happen. I also learned never put my hand beneath a blade ever again even when I think I am safe.

I also learned that had been a lie that day because two years ago the same sort of thing happened again to me. My father and I wanted to cut some of our lilac bushes with a chainsaw because the bushes had grown so much that they were not producing as many flowers as they should and we wanted to do that for my mother and surprise her when she was at work. I was in charge of making sure that he did not trip over any of the branches that he was cutting and to pull them away from his feet, well little did I know that was the most dangerous part of the entire thing. I saw this one lonely branch under my fathers feet so I quickly went to go and grab the branch while my dad was cutting a branch and he put his arm back behind him with the chainsaw in hand and his other hand up to make sure the branches don’t fall on him but instead he put the chainsaw right into my hand and tore my thumb up. At first I was angry and hurting but after we talked about what happened, while getting my hand wrapped to stop the bleeding we started to laugh because we both knew we were in the wrong and should have paid attention to our surroundings. Now we both joke about it all the time and I can now say I have been bitten by a chainsaw and I have the scar to prove it.

Photo on Foter.com