TICKLE ME CLEAN

I'm back--sort of. The last three months have been difficult--what with the flu, sinus infection, coughing, some bad bruises , the holidays, snow and cold almost every week for the last two months, the transmission going out on my car and through it all missing David terribly. Now I face March again and getting through Easter. It doesn't seem like it has been almost a year, but it has. With the Lord's help and lots of prayer I get through it day by day, some days more lonely than others.

Now to the title subject, my spring-offs should appreceate this one. When I was little I was very ticklish. When families would visit the kids would entertain themselves, you know in the olden days with no radio, TV, DVD's, sterios, etc., we would play games (even the board games were very limited in kind and quantity) . I wonder if Jack remembers when we came up with our "tickle matches'? The bed (preferably double size)was the ring and we would start off sitting on opposite corners and the object was to try to get the other person to laugh by tickling them. It was kind of the unspoken rule that once you had them laughing the round was over. We could go on for hours, on a cold winter day it was a way to pass the time. One day one of my friends came home with me for Sunday afternoon after morning church and before evening Bible study and we had a tickle match, only she didn't go by the rules. Once she had me laughing she straddled me with her knees on my arms and tickled me until I absolutely could not laugh anymore. That was the end of the "tickle matches" because the result of that match was that I was no longer ticklish. Only when I was very VERY tired with my shoes off and my feet up was I then ticklish on the bottoms of my feet and my kids discovered this. (I think someone told them, probably their Dad.) Each one at one time or another when they would catch me in that position after a hard days work would just have to try and "get Mom". I got pretty good at faking them out because if I was aware what they were up to (whispers and giggles would give them away) I wouldn't be ticklish and they would be caught and tickled themselves so they had to be quick on their feet to avoid being caught. Once in a while they would catch me, enough times to keep them trying. If I was really out of it and they managed to get a reaction they still had to be quick on their feet because my reaction was instant--the tickled foot would kick. The reason for this story, besides a fun memory, was what happened to me this morning. Have you seen the ads for the foot cleaner? I have been waiting for them to get in the store. Between arthritus and the added pounds I have put on it was getting more and more difficult to wash my feet in the shower. A friend had told me she had one and she loved it. Well I found one in Alco last week and put it in the shower yesterday to use. Have you ever laughed in the shower other than at the way you look? Well I must have still been half asleep (you know I'm not a morning person) because when I squirted the soap in that thing and shoved my foot in it to get it clean my reaction was instant. That foot kicked so hard and fast the suction cups came loose and there I stood with that thing dangling from my foot and the water running down me and laughing like a lunatic. I woke up in a hurry. They should put a warning on the box to beware of use if your feet are ticklish! It's a good thing I had a good hold on the grab bar or I could have had more bruises and not laughing. Such is life! I'll have to try it again when I am wide awake!

Lots of love and God's blessing. Keep on praying for me as I do for you. We need all of the heavenly help we can get.