Every week I try to post something to help give the people that stop by my blog a little laugh. I call the posts, “A Little Laughter.” Even when I don’t have the time or energy to publish other posts, I try to get a little video, song or story up that will bring a smile to my reader’s faces.
I have a powerful belief in the power of laughter. To my very core I know that, when it comes to having a positive attitude and dealing with adversity, there are few things that help like humor. Throughout the most difficult times of my life I have been a witness to the influence a moment of joy can have in determining the altitude of our attitudes and our ability to overcome.
However, just like most things, it’s easy to talk about adding humor to your life and a different thing altogether to implement laughter daily—especially in times of adversity.
I can safely say that the past weeks have tested my belief and dedication to the importance of the funny.
On May 1st, Kolette was diagnosed with Gall Stone Pancreatitis. It has caused her to be as sick as she has ever been, put her in more pain than most can imagine, and almost taken her life. She was in the hospital for a week and a half, four days of which were spent in the ICU.
Of all the days in the hospital, those she spent in Intensive Care were the most harrowing. Every night I would leave her room sure that things couldn’t get any worse, only to show up the next morning to find her at a new low. She was hardly breathing, with her blood pressure through the floor, and over 65lbs. of water collecting around her liver, kidneys, lungs and abdomen.
Watching her pain had to be the worst. I have truly never felt more helpless in my entire life. (Kolette and I really traded places on this one. I’m used to be the one fighting for his life, not the one standing idly by—I prefer my normal position, thank you).
When she was admitted, the doctors told her there were few conditions as painful as pancreatitis. In fact, at one point in the ER, as Kolette asked over and over for more pain medicine, the doc said, “I could give you enough pain medicine to stop your heart and you’d still be in pain.”
On that first day, I knew that if I were going to keep a positive attitude of any kind through this ordeal, I’d have to have a regular dose of humor. I knew that my minutes of laughter were as critical to our survival as Kolette’s milligrams of medicine.
So, in an effort to get out in front of the issue, I change the Kolette’s ringtone on my phone to the song below. Whenever the people in her room, nurses on staff, and Kolette (when she could) used the phone to get a hold of me I’d hear the song “Pancreas” by “Weird Al” Yankovic that’s posted below. The phone was used enough that, a number of times throughout the day, I’d get a little 20 second listen of the song. Being a lifelong “Weird Al” fan, I felt it would do the trick—and luckily for me, I was right.
Every time I heard the song, no matter how bad the day, inevitably the ends of my mouth would curl and I’d let out a little chuckle. Instantly, things were a little better, and all at once everything that was heavy would get a little lighter.
Now, I know that everyone won’t think he song is funny. Most will probably just think that it’s weird. But it was perfect for me. It gave my heart the little lift that it needed and helped me have the strength to carry on, and if I was passionate about the power of humor before, that passion has only intensified now.
Kolette is home now, still in a great deal of pain, with a long road and the chance of multiple surgeries ahead. But, as I ask for your prayers and good thoughts for her speedy and successful recovery, I also ask that if this song doesn’t make you chuckle or chortle, find something that does. Then, when you do listen, watch, or read it, and witness as your attitude improves and the white-hot heat of that positive attitude warms your life.
For, I know that regardless of whether times are good or bad, or if things in your life are easy or hard, we all are better after a little laughter.
Jh-
Thanks Al
Posted by Jason Hall 
The past few weeks there’s been a lot of talk about The Declaration of Independence, and what the founding fathers had in mind when they signed it.
