“Things I never thought I would have to say before becoming a parent, No. 1101: Stop licking the refrigerator!”

The Atlanta Journal Constitution started this Vent section many, many years ago. I greatly prefer laughing to just about anything else and this section cracks me up constantly. Home of such winners as, “Do wind breakers really break wind?” which once caused me to be unable to hold it together for an entire day back when I still worked in the school system. I couldn’t stop giggling so the assistant principal bestowed the moniker ‘Goofy Girl’ on me after that day.

Well honey, why not laugh?

Life is short, often too hard, and I just want to have fun. It’s what has kept my head above water during the last 34 years of parenting. Even the Bible encourages laughter (a merry heart), and Proverbs that state, “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones," (the mind-body connection) so I believe that being silly is where it’s at. It often disarms some potentially volatile situations in my home and family, it has carried us through many tough periods in which there seemed to be little to smile about.

In The Secret, we are told, “Laughter attracts joy, releases negativity, and leads to miraculous cures.” I believe this wholeheartedly.

Norman Cousins’ well-documented approach to laughter and his subsequent healing led him spur others to produce this page full of quotes and thoughts that I believe should be memorized.

It is all about being positive. I could choose to stay glued to CNN all day, listening to bad news after bad news which would surely sink me into depression or I could glance at the headlines, if I felt an overpowering need to be informed, and then move on to something positive. It’s necessary to seek the positive, to feed one’s faith, and to search out good things at all times.

We adoptive parents live under a different brand of parenting stress; one that involves absorbing and learning to live with traumatized children. It could potentially take its toll on us and we need to take measures to build ourselves up.

The slow foods movement, mindful living, vegetarianism, mega vitamins, sustainable agriculture, church membership, inspirational and motivational books, rip roaring country gospel music, laughter and joy have all helped me be as strong as possible, to be able to withstand some incredible assaults on my emotions and mentality.

Honest to God, if I could advise anything to prospective and seasoned parents it would be for them to search and find their joy; their positive mindset. It will serve them well.