Can you laugh too much? I guess so if you are a freckled face girl with skinny legs, bands on her teeth and braided hair. I was punished for giggling in grammar school by being put in the corner, the cloak closet (now an archaic word?) or into the principal's office where my desk came to keep me company. I still dream of Emerson Grammar School, Principal Barker, and my home teacher, Miss O'Bannon, who predicted "I would come to no good." Well, I did throw the rings over the bars and was reported by school neighbors for climbing their fruit trees, but I did NOT put those rocks in their mailboxes! Anyway, I laughed through church services with my giddy friends (who are probably somber by now as life gets REAL), was sent to my room by strict parents for laughing at the dinner table, and...I still have a sense of humor! In college, I was caught by my English teacher, chuckling over my creative story: The Rumination of a Yellow Bell or Subtle Suggestions on How to Prepare a Slide for Microbiology. Old Maid Whitten descended on me with a stern mien, puncturing my happy mood with the words (still etched on my 75 year old brain): "Martha, we don't laugh at our own jokes!" Say, maybe you'd like to read about the Yellow Bell that was cut by microtome into serial sections and dyed several colors against her will. . . or not. It has now been proven that laughter is good for you, raising your spirits and releasing happy secretions in the brain. So I was 'inercent' and shall continue to legally smirk, chuckle and laugh. I hope the following stories at least raise a smile to your lips, dear Readers. Senior Dating Game Have you ever secretly wanted to answer an ad or put one in the Personals but were too bashful (chicken)? Well, ponder no more on this age-odd drama, as I have done the sleuthing for you. more--> Strange Fruit This true story was a class writing assignment where we were to mix humor with facts. Hope you enjoy both! more--> The Great Experiment: No TV for a Week! A friend and I were full of the same guilt - WASTING OUR VALUABLE TIME ON TV, so we made a pledge to NOT watch for a week more-->

Giddy girl, Martha on the bars -- age 8