Humor In Melaland

And, boy, are we a funny lot, indeed! Sometimes we can forget and sometimes others don't know. We can, and do, develop a dark humor. We laugh at doctor/hospital jokes. Heck, we LIVE them! We learn that the old adage, "might as well laugh instead of cry" often is a really good policy for dealing with all the junk we have to deal with.

I write a lot about our trials and attirude (which can be hilarious in hindsight). I write a lot trying to lift us up, remind us God is in our midst, and to hold out hope. Today, I'm feeling the need to remind us to laugh. It really is great medicine...and it's FREE! We don't have to haggle with insurance companies to get it! It really does lighten our souls and it makes us pleasant to be around. Life truly does have it's funny moments. Enjoy them! Don't let this disease, or any disease, strip away joy, your smile, your hearty laughter. And I advise that knowing that can be a hard place to get to after this diagnosis or after a death of a loved one from melanoma. I've been there.

I've been thinking about this post since yesterday...the day after Monday...the day after this blog post hit the greater Internet: Donna Regen's Melanoma Mama: Sweety Mama for Sex in Pretoria.

When I saw that I literally bust out laughing! (In the rural south where I live, we do not "burst" out laughing. WE "bust" out). I'll tell you why that's so funny. It's because this is the PSA Donna's known for: it's about her daughter, Jaime, who died from melanoma. Donna's known for her work in Melaland doing what she can so that no other parent visits their child in a cemetery because of melanoma. She's simply not known for being any other kind of "Mama." She's "Jaime's Mama," not "Sweety Mama!"

I choose to see that as God's sense of humor shining through. That "sweety mama for sex in Pretoria" was an actual search term that, for some really unsuspecting person, prompted Google to suggest one of Donna's posts. ALL of her posts touch on "melanoma" in some way. Not "sex." Not "Pretoria." Melanoma. She certainly doesn't bill herself as "Sweety Mama." And yet, Google decided Donna fit this. I have to laugh! Donna laughed. God laughed. Hopefully her reader learned. For some reason, God led that person to Donna.

We've got other humor in melaland that I'm thinking about. They've shared this photo often on Facebook ever since they took it last year at the Aim at Melanoma Walk in Charlotte, NC. Mark Williams and Rich McDonald (Hotel Melanoma proprietor), our Men in Black.

We enjoy life. We don't enjoy all aspects. We don't enjoy this disease and all that comes with it. We don't enjoy knowing that everyday 178 people, around the world, die from melanoma and countless more are added to our numbers. There is much we do not and cannot laugh at or about.

But we are human. And we've learned life is a gift. Everyday is a gift. We've learned to smile and keep going. We've learned that if WE can laugh, then what in the world is there to keep others from joining us in it? We've learned life is short. Even if we live to see 100 years, that's still "short."

So, receive the blessing of this day. Rejoice and be glad in it for it will not come again. Make the best of it and the most of it. Live it so that at the end of the day, when you lay your head down, you can say "Thank You, God, for seeing me through today in the best possible way considering all today held."

And, "Don't stop believin'!" Never, ever stop believin'!

charis