LM, Episode 1115, 1/5/23, Second Semester

On the Friday after Thanksgiving the first year my wife, Twyla, was teaching, she cried, confessing to me she didn’t know if she could continue teaching the rest of the year. It was so much harder than she expected.

She made it to Christmas break. The day she returned to school after the break, she naively said, “Well the year is half over.”

Bless her heart. Little did she know school calendars lie. Sure they say both semesters have the same number of days in them, but second semester is twice as long as first because you have all the normal activities, but you add prom and graduation into the mix.

Fortunately for Twyla, she worked around experienced teachers who supported her and helped her through the remainder of the year, including the Tech Ed teacher Mr. Burks.

Mr. Burks is one of those naturally funny people. Our son, Keith, had Mr. Burks and loved him. They had a rule at the school that, after lunch, everyone had to sit in the cafeteria. One of Keith’s friends asked Mr. Burks, “Why can’t we stand up after lunch?”

Mr. Burks replies, “‘Cause standin’ leads to dancin’ and everyone knows what dancin’ leads to.”

The only person who drove an older car than Twyla was Mr. Burks. He drove a truck with two different color doors on it and neither door matched the color of the rest of the truck. One year the superintendent was talking during a staff meeting about a new parking policy and he joked that he only wanted cars that were ten years old or newer parked in front of the school. He says, “So Mr. Burks, you and Mrs Rader need to park in back.”

Mr Burks chimes in, “Mrs. Rader, no matter what you drive, I’ll always make it look good.”

When Twyla finished the school year she commented the only way she got through was because of laughter and research shows she was right. Research has proven laughter reduces stress and improves your health, it helps organizations build collaboration, it helps individuals tap into their creative problem solving skills, and it helps prolong your career.

Two things you can do to bring more laughter into your life and work. First of all, make leaders of those people like Mr. Burks who have the natural ability to make people laugh.

Secondly, take time every week to do things that make you laugh. Watch a movie,read a book, listen to a recording or a podcast, whatever, take time to laugh.

And if you are in Bloomington, IN this weekend and you want to laugh, you must see my friend, Stewart Huff at the Comedy Attic. Tickets are available at www.comedyattic.com. Take care and always remember laughter matters.