Nothing makes Wayne happier than playing tricks on me. When I came into the Mansion, I put my hat down near the office, and an hour later, as I was leaving, I couldn’t find it. “Where is my hat?,” I asked the staff, and Maria, who had come along with me.  Maria just smiled in an odd way and said she didn’t know.

I knew something was up. Maria is always aware of everything.

I looked around and saw it  on top of Wayne’s head, where he had put it, and the last place I was looking for it. Wayne was just beside himself. He grinned and laughed out loud.

He also likes to  hide the bingo wheel when I come for bingo Saturday night, he is good at it.

Wayne has a wicked sense of humor, and he is a rascal who never stops smiling in the midst of a difficult life.

I will tell you something on a serious but related note. The other day, I saw a documentary film about Pope Francis called Pope Francis: A Man Of His Word, and I kept looking at the Pope’s frequent soft smile and I kept seeing Wayne’s face, his smile.

They were both so similar. And this touched me deeply, as I believe both are sweet men who never forget humor and brighten the lives of others, even in sad and difficult times. I don’t know what to make of this, except it was a powerful spiritual connection between too good men.

Their smiles are almost eerily similar, accompanied by the same twinkle in the eye. I got a tingle on my spine when I saw it in the movie, and then again, today on Wayne’s face.

“God is Young,” said the Pope. “If one doesn’t have a sense of humor, it’s very difficult to be happy.” For almost forty years, said the Pope in the film, he has begun his day reciting the “Prayer For Good Humor,” written by St. Thomas More in the 1400’s. It begins this way:

“Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest.

Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it.“

and ends this way:

“Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy,

and to be able to share it with others.”

Wayne never forgets to joke or smile, or to share  his bit of joy. Tomorrow, I’m taking him a printout of this poem, and I’ll read it to him.

I know he will grasp it. i’m also bringing him another gift certificate to the Battenkill  Bookstore. He has already read all of the books I got him two weeks ago.

Wayne has few reasons in his life to laugh or joke, but he never fails to smile. If you wish, you can write Wayne c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.J., 12816. It is very difficult for Wayne to write back, as he does not have the use of his fingers in one hand. He does read the letters he receives and loves getting them.