LAUGH at The 12 Days of Christmas Acted Out by Audrey, A "Niece of My Heart"

Since people following Lumigrate on facebook REALLY liked the video I'd given a link to YouTube about ('hysterical', LMAO, etc.), I thought I'd set the link here as well, so people from here on out can go and watch if they're needing a laugh. 

As many of you know, my professional background includes a dozen or so years as an occupational therapist, and part of what we learn to include in our scope of work is encouraging people to enjoy their time sometimes.  Anything that occupies time is an 'occupation', and your reading (or hearing it interpreted) on a monitor or screen of any sort right now is your 'occupation' right now. 

Some of my intentions/goals to accomplish with Lumigrate back in 2007/8 when I was shifting out of being an OT to being an online entrepreneur and health/functional facilitator was to extend what I was doing as an OT in an insurance-based clinic and building to allow more people a slightly different version of what was working for us with patients and others who came to FREE weekly classes to learn.   Education is key to that, and so I hope I've introduced the topic here of laughter and leisure to you. 

Today is December 17th, we're now well into Hanukkah and we're mid-way through 'the 12 days of Christmas', SO I wanted to give the link to a YouTube video done by a young woman I am very proud to say considers me her 'Aunt Mardy' in her heart -- her mother is a 'sister of hearts' we established long ago.  (We grew up together and have been friends for over 40 years now. She says since kindergarden, my earliest memory of her is she was at my house and we were brushing each other's hair -- she had the SOFTEST hair, it was like angel hair that we'd decorate the tree with, and I think we were first graders but maybe it was kindergarden.) 

Audrey popped into the facebook stream and wrote this, after I shared the link she posted for this FUN video:

Hello everyone! I am so glad that my Aunt Mardy was able to share this with everyone and that it gave you a good laugh...we performed it for the over-60's seniors club at my church here in England and forgot to film it, so this was our second performance :). We had no time to practice, so this was only the second time we had done it, therefore we were also surprised that we didn't drop the chickens - haha - and yes - they were real! And no, we didn't eat them afterwards lol. It was so much fun to do, and thank you for watching :). Merry Christmas!

For four years before I moved to Grand Junction in 2004/5, I lived in Colorado Springs, and Audrey's family lived in a remote area west of there during that time.  They would come to the big city for shopping and a night in the hotel with the pool for the kids to play in, and all that (though they're 'from and in' Wyoming on Dad's side, Colorado on Mom's side), and now they're all back in Wyoming, I'm happy to say, a very close family where the kids cannot wait to fly from the nest and see the world a bit and then realize there is no place like their home!   

One of their trips coincided with one of my then-frequent  horrendous bronchitis after a cold virus.  Thankfully that all turned around when I moved and got different medical attention, though the real turnaround doctor was one at an urgent care that I had to seek out when on a weekend getaway to the blues festival in Telluride with friends from Colorado Springs, so that was simply 'meant to be'.  I just remember the humid air was so great AND watching her and her brother and dad play was so fun, as her mom and I sat on the chaises to catch up from the last time we'd seen each other.  It was winter, and to just sit in warm steam was delicious. And their laughter infectious and good for the spirit and soul!

They were such generous kids, they once took some of their birthday money into the store in the restaurant's lobby and bought me a gift -- salt water taffy! Ironically, that is a comfort food 'treat' from when I was their age. That maybe was the same trip where I professed what they would do when they grew up -- she had a marvelous gift with words and language and communicating, and he with athleticism and fast-reactions. Ironically, you'll see that she IS communicating with this video, just without words. 

Another time, when I went to visit them at their place and a downpour of rain hit after we'd been at the Great Sand Dunes, she and her brother were running around the car in that down-pouring rain just joyFULL.  As you might know, my hope with Lumigrate is to bring valid and progressive information regarding health your way, doing it in a FUN and streamlined way. 

Audrey has given me a wonderful Christmas gift this HolyDay season with this video from across the Atlantic, where she has gone to continue to grow into the woman who will go on to accomplish much, I am certain of it. And I want to share it with you. FUN and laughter! I think I'll come back here time and again and watch it over the years just to have a laugh, and I hope you follow the link and find it benefits your day as well.  

Live and Learn.  Learn and Live Better! (and Laugh a Lot Along the Way)  ~~ Mardy  www.youtube.com/watch

Note: Since the time this video was made, Audrey has had a 'little prince' enter her life, her biologic auntie had a baby who, it turns out was born hearing imparied/deaf.  So Audrey and her mother, despite being a whole state away, have taken sign language classes and have learned to communicate with their hands and expressions and movements! Interesting, eh? I'm so proud to call you both my friends and thank you for allowing me to have this on Lumigrate to share.