Beloved, has anyone told you that even from mourning, you will have fun again at no one’s else’s expense? I mean, all to the good of everyone, at no hurt to anyone.

And not to your expense either unless you don’t happen to have the dollars for a fine meal.

You are not always meant to be solemn. Laugh, and then laugh again. You can even giggle. Enjoy. Have a picnic. Enjoy your children. You don’t always have to have a laugh a minute. A laugh one in every five minutes, and you’re off to a good start.

Even if you are alone, have a laugh. Listen to this:

Without any effort, let it be like the old days when life was your cup of tea. Look, while you’re at it, have some laughs. If you’re riding a sad train, get off and get on another train even for a short break.

Have a smile up your sleeve. If you used to have a laugh a minute, hark back to those days. Who tells you otherwise? I don’t tell you to keep a stiff upper lip. I see no virtue in it. You don’t have to keep a stiff upper lip. You can just be. Encourage joy. Even in time of mourning, you can be glad for mourning. You knew someone worth crying over. You did have laughs together. In terms of the surface of life, nothing is forever. Life is always a bird on the wing.

When a good meal is over, you don’t have to cry. Nor am I to say you are to rejoice, yet what is the point of life? At least, if you cannot make merry, you can be grateful. What you had was never a possession. It was a gift. It was a blessing. Hail to life!

You are on your way back to joy as it will come to you. Sometimes you may return to what you call painful. Everyone knows what mourning is. Life in its presentations fluctuates.

Somehow or another, you do ride the waves, and you do reach the shore.

Life isn’t a straight line. Life is up and down. No one escapes life. Life comes as it comes. Would you choose life without all the wonderful? I’m not saying that life is what you want every moment. I do ask you to consider that life is what it is when it is. Life shows up. Sooner or later, you do have everything, not that you can always pick and choose what and when.

Except, in a manner of speaking, you can. You turn the pages in life, and it’s worth it. Cloudy days also serve a purpose. Beloved, you do get out alive. Hear Me. The ride is worth it. Life is full of honey and also garlic and green onions. Each wave of life serves a purpose. Leap over the waves. Swim in the direction you desire.

I know that sometimes life is hard to take as it goes along. Life is still life. Good weather will return. Meanwhile, at least you have someone to mourn. Return love for love. What would your loved one ask of you? Do it. Keep on loving and giving love out. Give more love out. There will never be another love just like it. Never in a million years. Now you will come to love another. Allow yourself. Beloved, you don’t have to be young and twenty again. It’s all right. Your life will return once more to an Ode to Joy.

You’re right. You can’t mandate the same laughs. Engender new ones then. You have every right to find joy where it lies. Life will not always stay the same. You can be sure of that. This is life. By golly, you have to roll with the punches. In one sense, even joy can be sad. A good man doesn’t have to keep himself down.