A Poopy April Fool’s Day

My good friend Eliz Greene (you may remember her from this interview) taught me that when you get stressed out, a chemical builds up in your heart. When that chemical — cortisol, to be exact — gets too built-up, it actually attacks the blood vessels in your heart. Ouch. Considering just how stressed-out most people are these days, it’s no surprise that heart disease is the biggest killer of both men and women.

And Eliz knows something about all this heart stuff. She had a heart attack at the age of 35 when she was pregnant with twins. Double ouch.

Eliz also knows something about getting rid of that stress. Sometimes the best way is a good belly laugh. Here’s an excerpt from her blog about her recent April Fool’s Day hijinks with her daughters:

(My husband) greeted them this morning dressed in a red muumuu and a tiara – and the day got “wacky-er” from there. Instead of our traditional Sunday morning breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes (whole wheat of course), he served them pink pancakes with carrot chips. Which they actually ate until we told them it was a joke!

There were little rubber mice in their rain boots, spiders and eye balls in their ice cubes, and the best by far was when Callie Jo came in carrying the plastic poop.
“Mama, what’s this?” she asked.
“Poop!” I replied.
“AHHHHH!” she screamed running from the room and throwing it against the wall.

At the conclusion of the blog post, Eliz recommends, “Find ways to play. It is amazing how good a belly laugh can make you feel — especially when you share it with someone you love.”

I couldn’t agree more, and I can’t imagine an April Fool’s Day more well spent. Family. Fun. And laughter. How did your April Fool’s Day go? If you played a practical joke on someone, you actually completed one of The Escape Plan challenges!

[tags]April Fool’s Day, Escape Plan, Eliz Greene, heart disease, stress, play, fun, poop[/tags]