The Southwest Voice

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Have you ever looked at a friend or relative and for no reason what so ever got the giggles? I don't mean snickering a little. I mean gut wrenching, uncontrollable giggles. The kind which makes tears stream down your face. The kind that cause accidents if you aren't near a bathroom.
 

My oldest daughter must have inherited the giggle gene from me. When her and her friends were in high school they got into some of the longest giggle sessions I’ve ever witnessed. They would be exhausted when they finally were able to stop, then after a few minutes, the laughing would begin again. Once it was over no one could remember what had been so funny.
 

My brother and I seem to stir these reactions in each other. We embarrass everyone around us. Our kids pretend they don't know us, my poor sister-in-law walks away shaking her head. It doesn't have to be anything funny that sets us off. We might just look at each other and come un-glued.
 

I can remember one night both our families went to a stage production of South Pacific. When they began singing Bali Hai that was all it took. It wasn't just me and my brother that were acting crazy, it was all eight of us. We sure did get lots of dirty looks that night. In fact we thought they were going to kick us out, but we couldn’t stop, no matter how hard we tried. Sometimes it's impossible to control giggling. It's like having one of those horrible coughing spells in church. The more you try to stop, the more you cough.
 

You will have to agree, giggling does make you feel better. I think it must wake up all the positive feelings and squash the negatives that sometimes plague us.
 

Of course when we talk about giggling we think of little kids, but whoever said giggling is only for children? We seniors still know how to laugh and giggle and the best thing about laughter is, it’s contagious and it’s a great stress reliever. Try it sometimes. You have my personal guarantee, it works.