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TITLE: Her Laugh Could Brighten Your World
By rosanne catalano
10/18/04

"Her laughter could brighten your world ..." she read on the back of her friend, Rachel's, mass card. That had been so true of Rachel, she sighed, thinking back to the days when they worked side-by-side in the office, and how much she had looked forward to going to work like never before; Rachel had that effect on the whole office ... she would start the morning off by telling jokes, and you just couldn't help laughing. Upon asking her once, "How can you be so cheerful every morning?" She said, "Because I am blessed every morning when I put my feet on the ground, that I am alive and have a wonderful family and great, loving friends; what more could we ask out of life?" she would say, with a chuckle and a smile. Her laugh rubbed off on all of us, and, soon, everyone was laughing right along with her, to the dismay of the bosses, who would be walking in from the street as all their employees were hysterical with laughter, crowded around Rachel. "Come on, guys, back to work!" the bosses would inevitably plea. Quickly turning back to their desks, everyone would start to work but, with smiles on their faces throughout the day; thanks to Rachel and her good cheer. Noone had realized, though, that she was crying inside ... that her boyfriend of three years had recently walked out on her, she didn't get along with her mother (they were constantly fighting), and her car had been demolished in an accident prior to her dying. Looking around her, at the funeral home, she saw that everyone from the office was there to honor Rachel, and they were all crying their eyes out but, amazingly, with smiles on their faces as they recalled all the funny stories and jokes Rachel had told to cheer her officemates up. "Lets remember her laughter and smiles ..." Helen said, walking over to her, embracing and hugging her, they cried together, and then stopped crying to laugh at something they had remembered Rachel had said once. "That's what she was all about -- making others happy, yet she was unhappy herself" I said. "I wish I could have helped her but, I hadn't known." "Just the fact that she had us all laughing every day, helped Rachel, believe me!" Helen said. She would try to 'remember' that fact whenever she thought of Rachel whose "laugh could brighten your world."

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