My friend has the heart of a child, even though we are growing alarmingly old! She is a mental health therapist and helps people deal with mental and emotional difficulties in their lives. A strong proponent of Fun as Healer, Sid encourages her clients to make time every day for a little fun. She, however, doesn’t have to force herself to do it. It comes naturally to her. I remember years ago, while studying to become a therapist, she was given an assignment to research the reactions of people who witnessed something that was unusual. She was to conduct the research and write a paper about it. Most of the students studied things like how people reacted to certain pieces of bad or sad news, sudden changes and the like. Not Sid. Oh, no!

Sid took a banana for a walk through the local airport. You heard me. She got one of those trick leashes that appears to have an invisible pet in it and attached a banana to the leash. She went to the airport for a couple of hours every day for a week and strolled around with the banana on the leash as though it was the most normal thing in the world. As she walked she counted the number of people she saw who laughed, the number who just stared, the number who frowned, those who turned away and those who dared to ask her what she was doing. I don’t remember the statistical outcome, but there were a lot of laughers in the airport and fewer people who asked for an explanation. What I love about Sid is how she brought a few smiles to people who are usually rushed and tense with her creative, kid-like imagination! By the way, she got an “A” on her paper.