After a career as an entrepreneur, author of seven “serious” books, New York Times staffer, and organizer of Santa Barbara’s Jewish Film Festival, Barbara Greenleaf keeps taking creative turns into her mid-70s. She just published a book called This Old Body: And 99 Other Reasons to Laugh at Life, and tells us a little about why.
What inspired you to write this book? One day I noticed that all of my parts were falling apart. Aliens from Mars had captured my arms and inserted jiggles in them, miniscule construction workers had gotten got inside my eyelids and made them droop like wilted lettuce, and someone had hung a “Vacancy” sign where my brain used to reside. The only way I could fight back was by making fun of these frightening developments. I jotted them down, read them aloud, everyone laughed — and This Old Body was born.
Why is humor so important as people age? If nothing else, it’s good for your health. Laughter releases all those feel-good endorphins. I read that people who laugh a lot have 66 percent less inflammation than those with no sense of humor. It’s also good for your looks — laugh lines are so much more attractive than frown lines. Finally, instead of bemoaning the betrayals, humiliations, and everyday aggravations that come with the passing years — and aging ain’t for sissies, as we know — you might as well make up your mind to treat them with the humorous disdain they deserve. It puts you in charge.