MARK MY WORD: IF YOU'RE HAPPY, MAYBE IT'S THE PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES

Researchers are putting a positive spin on life. If you're happy and you know it, they say, you just may live longer. They concluded that after a 15-year study of aging and Alzheimer's disease in nuns.

Researchers say the human body thrives when it's happy and hopeful, and knows a good joke.

Most Americans probably welcome the news. We all want to be happy, even those of us who aren't nuns.

Of course, I'm convinced life is always better when you have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I don't know if it is on the menu for the sisters, but it's on the menu in our house. Becca can't live without it.

During the school week, Becca eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for lunch. These days, Bailey is following in her footsteps, even to the point of making her own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We appreciate her enthusiasm, if not the mess. But then, she's 5. Becca, who is 9, has been known to make her own sandwiches. These days, she even cooks grilled cheese sandwiches from time to time.

But peanut butter and jelly stills ranks at the top of the food chain for Becca, along with creamy peanut butter and grape jelly.

She likes it mixed all together and spread on two slices of bread.

Joni and I have become adept at making her round sandwiches, which eliminate the crust. Neither of our kids likes the crust.

I confess, I can barely boil water. OK, I can make a mean meatloaf and a few other limited menu items. But for the most part, I stay out of the kitchen when there's cooking going on.

Personally, I'm just thankful we have peanut butter. Without it, whole generations of children would have gone to bed hungry.

According to the peanut experts, there are more energy-giving calories in roasted peanuts or peanut butter than in an equal weight of beefsteak.

I'm sure that explains Becca's endless supply of energy. Perhaps we'd all be better off if we ate more of it.

Of course, most people would rather eat at a steakhouse and skip the peanut butter dish.

Clearly, George Washington Carver was fascinated by the peanut, along with just about everybody in Georgia.

Carver is credited with having found more than 300 uses for peanuts, including face powder, printer's ink and soap.

It's hard to think of peanuts in soap. Personally, I think that's a waste of a good peanut, although Bailey could clearly use some soap, particularly after she has eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Bailey eats with gusto. Food often sticks to her clothes. It's more likely to do so right after she has donned a clean shirt. The great thing about peanut butter and jelly is that it sticks right to the shirt. You don't have to go looking for telltale stains. It screams right out at you.

Whether eaten or worn, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches generally produce smiles from our kids.

No doubt, it's the key to a positive attitude. That, and not having to eat grits.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.