Dr. Ludwig Von Stitches

I have always been one who thought that laughter is the best medicine. Ever notice when you aren’t feeling well that a dose of laughter will make you feel better much faster than a dose of cod liver oil? Have you ever told a pouting child or a mad adult not to laugh? “Now don’t you laugh; don’t you dare laugh,” and in a matter of seconds the frown disappears and is replaced by a smile or a giggle?

I would much rather laugh. To quote Uncle Albert in the Walt Disney classic movie, Mary Poppins,

“I love to laugh

Loud and long and clear

I love to laugh

It's getting worse ev'ry year”



The more I laugh

The more I fill with glee

And the more the glee

The more I'm a merrier me

It's embarrassing!

The more I'm a merrier me!”

When my children were young, I took this to heart. One day, one of my children came in crying because he or she had hurt a toe. I have no clue where the idea came from, but I said, in my best German (?) accent, “Come over here and let Dr. Von Stitches look at it.”. I had whoever it was lay down on the floor and give me the hurt toe. Then I started doing “this little piggie went to market”, with a slight variation.

“This little piggie went to market.
This little piggie stayed home.
This little piggie had a pizza,
And this little piggie had ---wait,
Piggys don’t eat pizza.

So then I said I would have to “adjust” the piggys. After all, out of whack piggys just wouldn’t do. The adjustment button was on the bottom of their little foot. The more I “adjusted” the piggys, the more they laughed. And the more they laughed, the less they hurt. Soon the tears were gone; replaced by smiles.

Over the years since, Dr. Von Stitches has built quite a practice and has fixed everything from hurt toes to hurt hearts. He still has his original 8 patients, but also has their spouses. And now he has at least 27 more little patients. “Grandpa, will you do my piggys?” “Grandpa, my sister is hurt, will Dr. Von Stitches look at her?” Not only do the kids bring their siblings or cousins, but the parents drag crying kids with boo boos to Dr. Von Stitches or his magic way of turning tears into giggles.

I have noticed that my kids all do “piggys ” on their children. All the piggys eat pizza or peanut butter sandwiches and have to have an adjustment on that special adjustment button. But if grandpa is near by, it’s “go see Dr. Von Stitches. And Ludwig Von Stitches always has available appointments and has his miracle piggy repair bag ready to adjust piggys and make laughs.