Who Says Laughter Is The Best Medicine?

Everyone has heard it said - "Laughter is the best medicine." And while it is arguable that it is better than many of our modern medical advances, it certainly doesn't hurt. Laughter raises the spirits, likely as important (if not more) than physiological treatment. If your heart isn't in it, then your battle is that much harder to win.

It's one of the things we worry most about. Under the "coping" cover Harper has put on, is her heart in it? Is she fighting for herself? Hard to tell. Her (mental) cover is pretty thick. It has to be to keep out the stuff that is happening to her.

But today, we saw a few smiles. Sure, they were intermixed with grimaces. And yes, there were more grimaces than smiles. But they were there.

This morning, she asked to go to Panera for breakfast. I would have asked her if Cadence put her up to it (Panera is one of Cadence's favorite places to eat) if she was laughing more and could take a joke. But if she asks for a specific food, and we can accommodate, we're in.

She ate part of a spinach and artichoke soufflé, and shared Melissa's salad. We got a small smile.




From there we were off to our big outing for the day - Churchill Downs. We didn't tell her where we were going, for fear she would fight us. We've asked her a number of times if she wants to go out and visit the horses at the barn where she rides, and she consistently says no. We think she fears it will make her sad since she can't ride right now.

We started in an indoor box that a friend generously gave us tickets for. There were 8 seats, and 3 of us. Lots of room. And Harper had some sweet tea, a few nachos and part of a pretzel while we watched the first 5 races. We're still feeding her every chance we get. She laid her head on Melissa's lap and watched the jumbotron. I, meanwhile, bet and lost money - which is what I always do at the track. I'm supporting the local economy...

We walked down to the paddock at one point and she and a friend of hers who we met there (daughter of the friend who gave us the tickets) watched the horses and jockeys mount up for a race. She seemed to enjoy seeing the horses.

Then, the second surprise. A friend of a nurse at our pediatrician's office got us back-track. We went and saw a few horses on the backside of Churchill.

Harper seemed to really enjoy it (as much as she enjoys anything right now) and actively touched, pet and fed the horses pepper mints. We got some more nice shots.





















Who says laughter is the best medicine? Today, the best medicine was horses.