Death and Humor

I have had a lot of challenges in my life and have learned that when facing adversity humor is a valuable tool. I have recently lost my grandmother, and miss her everyday. We all handle death and loss in our own way. My mother has never been one to deal with death very well. And she certainly does not find any humor in it.

My mom is the oldest kid of three and she feels it is her responsibility to take care of her elderly parents. My grandmother is as independent as they come and she didn?t need or want anyone to take care of her. So her kids devised a plan to keep an eye on her while letting her dignity to remain in tack. My mother would go and have a cup of coffee with her before she went to work. My aunt would call sometime during the day to tell her how her day was going. And my uncle would stop by after work and have a cup of coffee with her. I wonder if they really thought my grandmother was that stupid. Nevertheless, she enjoyed the company as well.

Grandma was in her late 70?s when she found out that she had throat cancer. Which really wasn?t a surprise considering that she smoked for over 50 years. She thought she had a good life and she was going to go about her business until the end. But her kids wouldn?t hear of it and begged her to fight. She ended up dying from complications relating to the treatment she was receiving.

When she died I tried to console my mother. She was hysterical and ranting about all the things that she would never get to do again. This was a difficult time for everyone. Then in the middle of one of her rants my mother said ?I am an orphan, now what am I going to do?? I started laughing; I couldn?t belief that?s where her grief took her. In the midst of all the tears she wanted to know what the bleep I was laughing about. I pointed out that someone who grew up with both of her parents was not an orphan. Just because she had lost both of her parents, it does not make her an orphan. It certainly does not make her alone.

My mother still does not see the humor in that conversation. However, in the midst of all the grief I have found a little bit of relief from the sorrow.

Source: http://www.womenfavor.com/home-and-family/death-dying/death-and-humor.html

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