 |
| Linda at Roast |
The 2017 Greater Missouri Alzheimer’s
Association’s roast was a roaring success. I can’t help but think a person must
be quite comfortable in his skin to allow a group of people to “roast” him. Or
as the emcee, Bob Pugh put it, “sear him” on first one side, then the other,
before roasting him to well done.
I was assigned a seat at the “Hawk”
table along with my new friend, Kathleen. We were glad to see each other since
we were the first two at the table, and both of us wondered if we’d be seated
by anyone.
“Are you a Hawk?” she asked me.
“No,” I admitted.
We wondered what a “Hawk” was. “Well,
if they don’t show up, we can eat their desserts,” she said. We were joined by
a charming gentleman who said he was not a Hawk, but eventually, the Hawks
joined us—a husband and wife team. Everyone else at the table personally knew
the roastee, Mark Fenner, CEO of MFA Oil, which made the experience even better
for me.
Mark and the roasters looked quite
dashing in their purple tuxedos. The evening was filled with good-natured
ribbing, including Mark teasing a donor for selling a $10 million business, but
donating “only” $25,000. The roast was topped off with a guitar and a
sing-a-long.
Laughter as a benefit correlates to
the benefits of laughter. I can’t think of many people who need laughter more
than caregivers. The health benefits of a good chuckle cannot be taken lightly.
According to Mayo, laughter is the ideal stress buster.
A good laugh:
·
Lightens your load mentally. Laughter relaxes
you, and reduces your stress hormone levels, and releases neuropeptides to
fight stress.
·
Eases physical pain. Laughter triggers the
release of endorphins, nature’s feel good chemical.
·
Improves
cardiac health. The American Heart Association believes humor can help your
heart by reducing artery inflammation and increasing HDL cholesterol. We have
good and bad cholesterol. The easy way to remember which is which is “H”DL is
the “happy” cholesterol and “L”DL is the “lousy” cholesterol.
Laughter is good for body and
spirit. It gives you short-term and long-term benefits. Having a good laugh every
twenty-four hours is just what the doctor ordered!
I easily stored up a week’s worth
of laughter at the roast. It was good to spend an evening with long-term
friends I’ve met over the years, and with new friends I met for the first time
at the roast.
I can’t think of a better
fundraiser than one that is fun. Beneath the laughter was the serious business
of raising money to provide our chapter’s outreach and to laugh our way to a
world without Alzheimer’s.
Copyright © May 2017 by L.S. Fisher
No comments:
Post a Comment