Isabeau, you have--eloquently and with disarming and refreshing candor--illustrated that line that Woody Allen served up in ANNIE HALL, which I paraphrase:
"Life...it's terrible and miserable and full of pain and suffering--and it's over far too quickly."
'Seems to me that life demands a little silliness and laughter--Hell! A lot!--for they are, in their way, courageous responses to the inevitable diminution and demise of us all.
In other words, tickle and laugh and make others laugh when you can.
distant cousin, major influenceI have a cousin whose first name is Shlomo who has lived in what is now Israel his whole life...