Laughing at a Funeral

I admit I have done this. I don't know if there is ever a good reason to do this but I think in my case, the reason was pretty valid.

My grandmother died a couple of years ago very suddenly while in the hospital for a routine heart procedure. We were all very shocked and stunned as you can imagine.

The funeral was very solemn as I think we were all still in a state of unbelief. My grandmother was a wonderful woman and it was a celebration of her life. She loves to cook and many people talked about how they had benefited from her cooking no only by having a meal with her but because she donated preserves and jellies to church auctions and participated in the meals on wheels program cooking for others. She was a remarkable woman in both her community and at church.

My grandmother had many friends and one of them included my cousins grandmother. They lived in the same town and of course had known each other for years and years. Not to mention the fact that my grandmothers son, married her daughter. We called our grandma, grandma but my cousin called her grandma, Memaw, so as not to get confused. I will do from this point on as well to keep you all from getting confused.

Well, Memaw of course attended grandmas funeral. She was very sad and came to pay her respects. Now Grandma never drove but Memaw had a car and was still driving at this point. Actually she is still driving today in her 80's. She of course had drover herself to the church for the funeral as well.

We all left the church and headed in a procession for the cemetery. The immediate family was up front so we were out of our cars and standing grave side as the other cars were finishing coming in and stopping. I was standing next to my cousin waiting for the others to get to the grave site when BOOM, we heard an awful noise. We looked to the procession and wouldn't you know Memaw had hit the car in front of her. Memaw got out of the car, apologized to the people she hit, and then proclaimed she had no idea the procession had stopped. My cousin and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. And of course, once you get started, you cannot hardly stop. I thought my parents and her parents were going to kill us. We had tears running down our faces, not tears of sadness and grief, but tears of pure exhaustion from hysteria.

Now looking back on this a few minutes later when we were eating at the wake, we really think that our Grandmother was laughing with us. She had a great sense of humor. We had all been so so serious for so many days. I think personally she was telling us to cut it out and enjoy life again. She enjoyed and relished every minute of life. She died right before Easter which was her favorite time of year. With Easter comes rebirth and new life with that the onset of Spring.

My grandmother had a knack for finding the best in people and the good in everything. She persevered and survived in the hardest of times and conditions. Yet she always smiled, never complained and loved life. I think she wanted to remind us of that.

In laughter and life I remember her,