Us Singleton's have amazing immune systems. We rarely get sick. I attribute this to the fact that as long as I can remember if we hurt ourselves my dad would say "shake it off, Singleton's have hard heads!" Maybe mentally we have always assumed that Singleton's are incapable of sickness? Maybe it was the dirt we ate as kids? Maybe we are just genetically better stronger? Ha-- either way, sickness is rare. This has only recently become something we are aware of because since my siblings have started getting married, it has been the spouses that have pointed out the insanity of the strength of our immune systems.
On this subject, I came across a quote my sister gave me as one of my suggested mantras of the week. It stated...
"Studies of antibody production have also shown that the stronger a person’s sense of humor, the more resistant that person’s immune system will be to the effects of stress."
Maybe that is why. Life hasn't been easy for our family, like unto other families, but we have chosen to laugh through the bad times. This is my most favorite thing about my family. This is also my most favorite thing about my life. When life is hard, I choose to laugh. When I am stressed out, I choose to laugh. This makes me feel more alive than most of the people I see getting really angry. On occasion I let myself get really angry with life and I feel beyond awful, but when I am able to shake it off and laugh it is like the complete weight of the stress is gone and life is both beautiful and funny again. But I had to make a choice.
Here is one story. My story.
High School. My first dance. Halloween. I liked this boy in my drama class, and asked him to go with me. We dressed as army people... probably the only time I have taken the easy way out on a costume as we just wore some BDU's from my father's closet. I Picked him up and we joined our group for a pre-dance activity (oh, utah!) of reverse trick-or-treating. This involved us knocking on doors, and passing out candy to people in a neighborhood. This may have been funny on any other night, but the dance happened to be ON Halloween, so most people were just very confused.
After a bit we began to head back to the friend's house whose neighborhood we were in. As we were headed back, my date, my best friend and I saw a swing set behind the corner house so we cut behind to have a swing before our group rounded the corner. We had a few short swings and as we spotted our group, my best friend jumped from the swing... landed. Then my date jumped... landed. Then I jumped... but as I jumped I heard a tear, and felt a breeze... landed. Sat down, panties to the grass. I looked up and saw the back half of my pants hooked onto the swing.
My best friend ran to me and I watched as my date unhooked my pants from the swing and brought them to me. Mortified. We held my pants together and waddled to my friends house. I was quickly ushered into the bathroom while my friends sat in the living room. I stared at myself in the mirror. This was the moment. I had a choice. I could either make my first high school dance a horrifying start to high school and a night full of tears and embarrassment. OR. Or I could use the packaging tape we found and embrace it all.
I chose the tape. I taped myself together and stepped out of the bathroom. Everyone sat there staring at me, waiting for my first reaction. Wondering if I would laugh, or whether they should offer condolences? I looked around and laughed, which broke the ice and everyone laughed. To top it off, my date added some tape to his own costume... cause, ya know, you are supposed to match. It was a great evening.
Here is the photo.
So, if you are feeling sick with stress, remember... make a choice and laugh.
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