Laughter is the best medicine

Brother Keith did an absolute wonderful job with the funeral service. From the first time I met him I knew I'd like him and he'd do a great job. For him to come out to the house Tuesday night and sit and listen for over an hour to all our stories about grandpa. To walking around at visitation for over 3 hours talking to everyone to find more stories he hadn't heard. He even came up to the hospital in the morning before the funeral to be with Steven. He was everywhere. It was at visitation that I sat down with Brother Keith one on one. I told him how amazing my grandpa was and he quickly had a story to share with me. He told me this... "there wasn't a person in this town that didn't know about you. He talked about you to anyone who would listen. If you were playing on tv, he called everyone. He would get newspaper articles about you and hang them on the church bulletin board. He was so proud of you and I hope you know that." of course after I wiped away all the tears I told him thank you. 


This week was hard, but in the middle of it all we had our laughs. Grandma usually provided them but anytime we could get her laughing we did. Here are just a few examples...


Scenario 1: My moms jewelry is laying on the Kitchen table grandma walks in while mom is doing the dishes and says "well heathers necklace and earrings sure are pretty, we should just take them from her" my mom replies with "No mom those are mine and you can't steal them." Grandma giggles.

Scenario 2: My mom gets a condolences gift from a friend. Grandma finds it and talks about how pretty is it and then asks if she can have it my moms says "no mom that's what Debbie got me to remember dad."  Grandma continues to talk about how pretty it is and then asks again if she can have it. My mom replies again "well mom how about we share it?" grandma says oh yes that would be lovely. And then once again tells us all how pretty it is. She turns to my mom and asks where she got it. Mom replies "Debbie got it for me to remember dad" grandma says oh well isn't that nice, can I have it? Finally my mom says yes, and grandma says well it's just so pretty I want to put it up somewhere I can look at it everyday. I am sure this scenario will start all over again in the next day or so. 

Scenario 3: My mom and grandma are in the bedroom getting dressed. Grandma has to put pantyhose on and mom has to help her, this is a 30 minute ordeal. Once they get grandma all dressed she comes out. We tell her how pretty she is and then ask about her pantyhose she looks down lifts up her skirt a little and says "well I didn't even know I had them on"

Scenario 4: My uncle goes into the hospital after visitation we don't tell grandma until the morning. She understands but for the rest of the day she tells us Lloyd is in the hospital. We tell her no it's Steven. She says oh well I need to go see him. So we take her after the funeral to see him. The rest of the evening she tells us Lloyd is in the hospital. We tell her no it's Steven she says oh well I better go see him...

Scenario 5: Grandma has a cup of coffee while sitting in her rocking chair. She spills it all over her mid region. No big deal but she doesn't want to change clothes so ok we aren't going to fight her. She then wants to take a nap so we go put her down for one. An hour later we are sitting in the kitchen and her she walks in. Looking a little confused we ask her if she's sleep walking she says "well I just might be" we laugh she laughs, confusion gone. She then feels her oversized flannel shirt and tells us it's wet while looking down at her pants and seeing they are wet to, confusion is back. We quickly remind her that she spilled her coffee but then ask her if she thought she might have peed her pants she replies while giggling well I just wasnt sure.

Scenario 6: We are telling stories about the past and I remind grandma about the time she whipped me with her brush. I told her it was when I was little and I think Kyle and I were fighting. She looks up at me with the cutest face and says well I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that and gives me a hug.