Laughter is, indeed, the best medicine

Laughter, they say, is the best medicine. I think it does lift our spirits from the endless cycle of things to do, the sense of defeat we sometimes feel in not being able to meet commitments, not being able to be the parent of the year for the moment, not getting the essential support we need for our child, not living up to someone else's high expectations and so on. I am not randomly talking about this subject. I am bringing this up to say how much I appreciate the role my ASD son plays in bringing happiness to our family. People who have met my son often comment on how happy he appears to be most of the time. It's true. He is a giggle-head. If I happen to catch him coming out of the bathroom wearing just his underwear or if he lets out a burp, he goes into this paroxysms of laughter, which gets us all smiling and enjoying the moment with him. Our worries lose their magnified glory and importance when we share these moments together. My two teenaged children probably would have long disowned me for being a grumpy, nagging parent if not for the giggles my child on the spectrum, inflicts on me, and on them too, every day.