Laughter IS the best medicine

Truly. Nothing heals the heart and soul like laughter. We have had a ROUGH week. I turned 35, took over daycare for a day (11 kids vs. me= me NOT winning or leaving sane. Until the margaritas flowed.) I caught some kind of bug, and the sun and the moon must be not have been speaking, 'cause they were WAY out of line this week.
But today was one of those days that you felt like you just might be in an alternative universe. When my husband and I first met, we both had great jobs and he had this fantastic apartment. We would have a night in and I'd make a fabulous dinner. Then we'd adjourn the balcony. He lived on the top floor in a very rural town and you could see the stars so clearly. On those magical, relaxing nights, we'd finish dinner and head to what we called "Lottery Land". We'd stand on the balcony and dream up a world that was pretty much untouchable unless you were Donald Trump or Jay Z. But we'd snuggle up, watch the stars and dream of our "perfect world". Manhattan Penthouses, boats big enough to land helicopters; Kitchens to die for.
Despite our crazy schedules, with me working weekends, nights, Holidays, etc., we still managed to have those wonderful nights.

Fast forward 11 years and we have 2 awesome kids. 1 is a small genius. And I don't use that word lightly. The kids a friggin' genius. And my son, a comedian to umpteenth degree. I run a small cake business out of my house, designing, creating and baking cakes. I cater occasionally. I watched the finale of Hell's Kitchen last night and felt that tug. That tug in the stomach of my heart and the heart of my stomach. Fine Food. How I miss being behind the line. For the first time, I truly felt the finalist's deserved to be there. They were both creative, talented and food driven. I felt that urge to jump back into that awesome world. I would lose so much of my children's lives.

There in lies the dilemma. Just before our new President was sworn into office, my husbands company did lay offs. We became a product of the economy. Not just us, but almost everyone we know has been touched in some way. Almost like a cancer.

Onto tonight; I don't think I have laughed SO HARD in a very long time. My neighbor's mother has pneumonia and happened to come out briefly today for some fresh air. My husband was standing on our front porch and yelled over, asking how she was feeling. She's old and Italian and I'm not sure she even answered in the same language....
Anyway, my Husband starts clapping his hands and yelling,"hey, look", and she's saying something along the lines of "I know, I'm sick". As this conversation is taking place, their dog was sneaking out of the gate. My husband finally stops yelling, hops the railing of the deck, and starts running down the road after the dog. IN HIS BIRKENSTOCKS!! The two granddaughters hop in the car and start to follow them. I, in the mean time, and crying I am laughing so hard. His shoes go flying off. He rounds the corner and from there it's seems to only have gotten better from there. He ran into someones yard and as he was getting close to the dog, two teenage boys come out of the house. They stop to watch this crazy guy trying to catch this dog. My husband does this stealth like leap and grabs the dogs collar. The two kids went nuts. Lot's of "dudes" and "nice moves" and "We've NEVER seen ANYONE Ninja smooth catch a dog like that." Okkkkaaaayyy. So my husband starts to trek the dog back to the house and the girls pull up in their car. They were beyond Thankful that he caught their dads dog. They drive back up the street and ask where he wants to be dropped off....."um your driveway is cool, since I ONLY LIVE NEXT DOOR!!" THEN the two of them start to argue about not dropping him off in the HUGE puddle (honestly a small pond, I saw a frog) in front of their house. I can't believe he made it through this without busting out in laughter.
Fast forward to a hour or two later, a shot or two or tequila, some dirt (gardening) therapy, and My wonderful husband retelling this story, in his own comedic way. Maybe you had to there...but for me was,
My very own Lottery Land.