Learn to Laugh - No Use Crying Over Spilled...Smoothie

Almost every day, Seth wakes up early and makes fresh fruit/veggie juice for me and John. It is an arduous task and a labor of love. It is something I cannot do while I care for John in the morning. This has been a great blessing for us. It helps our digestion immensely. Yesterday Seth gave me my juice, and set it down on the floor so that I could dress John. I forgot of course (lesson learned) and after I picked up John I couldn't see the floor and I kicked it over onto our shag carpet. Half of this juice is made from carrots. It is bright orange. I was shocked, and knew it would be a terrible job to get it out of that carpet, and I was sad because I had wanted to drink that juice. I cried. Yes, it's true. I cried a good cry and apologized so many times. Seth comforted me by not being bothered and telling me, "I've wanted to get rid of that carpet anyways." He cleaned it up because I couldn't. Then, he made me juice again, even though I told him not to. he made it for me because he knew it would help my body work better. he didn't scold me once or complain about having a clumsy wife. If that's not a Christlike husband, I don't know what is. I am so thankful. I am so blessed.

Then today was going well. I had taken sufficient rests during John's naps and really tried not to overdo it. I made our daily smoothie for us. And it was a good one. I tasted it and knew it was a winner and John would love it. I even made extra to share with our neighbors and with Seth when he came home. I filled John's sippy cup, and as I turned to reach for another glass, my vest pocket caught on the spout of the Vitamix pitcher sending it flying (literally flying). This produced quite the result. The entire kitchen was splattered and all but a couple ounces of the smoothie was no longer in the pitcher. It hit everything from floor to almost ceiling and even went into the dining room.

But  before I began to cry over my spilled smoothie, I stepped back to decide how I should react to this disaster. I remembered yesterday. I didn't feel any better after I cried about my spilled juice, and I though of how Seth laughed it off and didn't scold, and just made some more juice.

 So I thought I'd try Seth's way. I cracked a smile and tried to laugh. It didn't make my smoothie go back into the pitcher, but it hurt less than crying. And how would crying help anyway? I decided to think of my blessings. At least John was playing over at the neighbors instead of swimming in the smoothie lake on the floor (as he assuredly would have). At least I still had some smoothie to give to John and a couple ounces for me. And Seth came home shortly after the splatter and helped me clean it all up. And my kitchen needed a good deep clean anyway. We were putting it off, but there was no time like the present today for kitchen cleaning! And even though my muscles hurt quite a bit, and still do, after the exertion of cleaning up my mess. God sent much help, and we'll make a new smoothie tomorrow. And now I have a great story to file away, and awesome pics to prove it.

This experience reminded me of one of my favorite apostles, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. He gave this talk, "Come What May, and Love It."

He says, The way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.

Every life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don’t sing and bells don’t ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result.

Isn't that the truth? He shares these great stories of laughing in times that you might choose to cry, get angry or frustrated.

I remember loading up our children in a station wagon and driving to Los Angeles. There were at least nine of us in the car, and we would invariably get lost. Instead of getting angry, we laughed. Every time we made a wrong turn, we laughed harder.

Getting lost was not an unusual occurrence for us. Once while heading south to Cedar City, Utah, we took a wrong turn and didn’t realize it until two hours later when we saw the “Welcome to Nevada” signs. We didn’t get angry. We laughed, and as a result, anger and resentment rarely resulted. Our laughter created cherished memories for us.

I remember when one of our daughters went on a blind date. She was all dressed up and waiting for her date to arrive when the doorbell rang. In walked a man who seemed a little old, but she tried to be polite. She introduced him to me and my wife and the other children; then she put on her coat and went out the door. We watched as she got into the car, but the car didn’t move. Eventually our daughter got out of the car and, red faced, ran back into the house. The man that she thought was her blind date had actually come to pick up another of our daughters who had agreed to be a babysitter for him and his wife.

We all had a good laugh over that. In fact, we couldn’t stop laughing. Later, when our daughter’s real blind date showed up, I couldn’t come out to meet him because I was still in the kitchen laughing. Now, I realize that our daughter could have felt humiliated and embarrassed. But she laughed with us, and as a result, we still laugh about it today.

The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable.

This is what I am doing. I am learning to laugh. And "every day in every way, I'm getting better and better." I'm making progress. Yesterday I cried. Today I laughed. I stilled spilled my precious nectar both times. But laughing felt better, so next time, and I am sure there will be many next times, I'll try to laugh.