Laughter is good for the soul, right?

Texas was hit by Hurricane Ike over the weekend. Some areas, like Galveston and Houston, were hit very hard and people there are surely facing a long recovery. My mother-in-law lives in Victoria, which originally was in the sites of Ike. She voluntarily left Victoria last Wednesday and came to our house to hang out with the grandkids and us until it was safe to go home.

Margie brought her little Yorkie "Tootie", and her pastor's two small dogs "Mini" and "Sparky". You may remember Megan's artistic rendering of Mini:

Here are Mini and Sparky with Megan during their recent visit to our house. Mini is the one laying down. We took three pictures and Mini was camera shy in all of the pictures:

On Saturday, Hurricane Ike battered Galveston and Houston and surrounding areas, but spared Victoria completely, and here in North Texas, we didn't get nearly the rain or wind originally anticipated. We are very grateful for our good fortune, but ever mindful of the devastation in South Texas and the lives lost.

So, by now you might be wondering where the laughter comes in?? Sunday morning turned out to be a gorgeous weather day. In the scope of Mike's job - he is the facility manager over many large warehouse, industrial and office buildings. His boss asked him to drive all the properties on Sunday morning to visually inspect them for any damages possibly incurred by the remnants of Ike. Mike's Mom had taken off in her snazzy red car for Victoria. The kids were busy, so I decided to ride with Mike to do his visual inspection and tour. We picked up his work truck and started driving - overall about 30 miles of driving. As I said - Ike was kind to the Metroplex - so largely there was little to see.

Following the tour - I really needed to potty! So, when we parked his truck - Mike told me he was going to walk to the trash dumpster and I should drive to the front of the building and meet him - and we would go in and use a restroom. Afterwards, we loaded up in the van and I started looking for my sunglasses. Couldn't find them anywhere. Mike suggested we look in the work truck. I was very perplexed. I wore the glasses on the tour and couldn't imagine having laid them down in the truck. We even discussed whether I might have take them to the restroom. Again - it didn't add up in my mind - but it doesn't hurt to cover all the bases.

We drive over to the truck and Mike gets out to go and look. And guess what? I found the glasses in the passenger seat of my van - Mike was SITTING on them and didn't know it! I shouted "I found them!" and immediately started laughing. They were soo F-L-A-T ! I don't even remember what all Mike said to me about it because I was laughing so hard. I do know that he has such a dry sense of humor and it seems like there were lots of "oh no" "that is terrible" "it isn't funny" and all the while I am laughing like a lunatic with tears running down my face.

It might make more sense if you know about Mike, myself and our very different opinions of sunglasses. Mike really likes Oakley's and Maui Jim's. He doesn't blink at spending a hundred dollars on sunglasses. This in spite of the fact that Mike wore a pair of Oakley's and walked into a chin-up bar on the playground when Jason was small. Right on the lenses. Other Oakley's broke or got discoloured. The Maui Jim's are still in great shape. And, truthfully - Mike takes good care of them. Myself? I can't be trusted with sunglasses - I drop them - I lose them - I drop them quite often. I typically either hang them on my rearview mirror - or more often than not lay them on the dashboard of the van for the next trip. Hey - I make a lot of trips - it is convenient!

Back in the summer - the glasses were on the dashboard and I backed out of our driveway into the cul-de-sac and when I shifted into drive and took off up the hill - my sunglasses slid across the dash and right out the open window and landed in the street. I stopped and picked them up and hey - they weren't scratched too badly either.

So, back to my flattened sunglasses. I am still laughing and crying and Mike has switched tactics on me "Hey - it isn't funny my bottom could have been pierced" "I could have been seriously hurt and you are laughing" "It isn't really funny, you know............." and meanwhile he is attempting to straighten the sunglasses out and I am protesting "Don't worry about it - they are $9.00 Wal-Mart Panama Jack's (generic Maui Jim?) and I can get another pair of $9 sunglasses".

I really did laugh that hard - one of those laugh's where you think you have it all out of your system and suddenly laughter bursts out again.

They do say that laughter is good for the soul..................I would have to agree.

Oh and the sunglasses? Perfectly fine and sitting on the dash ready for the next trip somewhere.