They say laughter is the best medicine…well yes and no. Humor allows us to see the humanity in a situation, if we are open to it. There are times when we are too low to see the humor and thus only see it as another affirmation of our sadden state.
Other times life’s absurdities just makes me giggle – yes, I do giggle.
My situation shifts across the poles of this continuum. Sometimes I am open to the humor and other times, when the dark clouds move in, I can’t see the humor at all. That is when I know I need to pray, vent to a friend and get back to a healthier mode.
Humor. It floats in like a feather wafting down, landing on your shoulder, just waiting to be noticed. You have to be careful, for like a feather that flies away with the tiniest of breezes, the comedic moment lasts but for a second. The trick is to capture it, place in it your memory and let it tickle your heart. Then whenever the clouds begin forming on the horizon, you can always pull it out for your spirit to float again, like the feather.
Ok, enough philosophical meandering. Two of the stories are about Mom and one is about Dad. This stuff cracks me up. I hope you get a laugh out of it.
I have written how Mom is starting to mix up words, coming close to the what she wants to say, but not quite. As an old history teacher use to say, “Right church, wrong pew”. Well now it is starting with food. Here are her two stories.
One night I wanted to go to the gym before I ate dinner, so it would be leftover night. I told them about the chicken and the rice that just needed reheating. There was salad and of course the ever present ice cream for dessert. “No problem,” they replied. When I returned home they were just cleaning up the dishes, putting away any leftovers and getting ready for dessert.
Mom tells Dad, “I’m throwing out this rice. It was really crunchy”. Hmmm…. I look over and see her dumping the rice into the sink. Here’s the thing, Mom had dumped the leftover, cooked rice into the frying pan and thought she was making fried rice. She didn’t add anything to it. Just cold rice in the pan and add heat. No wonder it was crunchy! To confirm my suspicions, I asked her if she had made Fried Rice. “Yes, but it is too hard and crunchy!”. There you go folks…if you are going to make fried rice you need to add oil, sauté onions, fry a couple of eggs and then add the rice and soy sauce. You can’t just throw it in the pan and switch on the burner. Mom just kept saying how crunchy it was. It makes me laugh, still.
Food faux pas #2
This is a rice vs. potato mix up. Adrienne made hash brown potatoes as a side dish for dinner. Mom kept calling it rice. Adrienne would correct her and tell her she was making hash browns. These were the shredded hash brown potatoes, so it kind of look like rice – if you really stretch your imagination, or if you have Alzheimer’s and you can’t remember squat. All through dinner Mom would comment that she thought the rice tasted funny. Guess so…it was hash brown potatoes. She threw the leftovers out, ‘cause the “rice” was bad.
Dad’s story….
Dad has a tough time in terms of flexibility, especially when using his right hand. He has arthritis in his shoulder, so he can’t reach down to his toes. It happens to most older folks and will probably happen to all of us.
It is around 10:30pm and Mom and I are watching TV. Dad walks in and asks Mom to get the wire cutters in the garage so she can cut his toe nails. I am actually stunned into silence. There is so much craziness in that one sentence that my brain was doing loop-de-loops trying to sort it out. I think my gears froze up.
For one thing, Mom has no clue what wire cutters look like, nor where to look in the vastness of the garage. Her role has been to do the traditional wife duties, which have never included the use of wire cutters.
Problem #2 with this scenario….cutting toe nails with a wire cutter!?!?! What is he smoking????
Problem #3: Dad has diabetes, which leaves him more prone to infections, especially in the toes. And he thinks wire cutters will cut only his nails and not knick/cut his skin.
I put an end to this little party and said we would make an appointment with a podiatrist for this task. Dad agreed to this. Mom like the idea more than Dad. I am still shaking my head about this one.
These are just recent stories. I will save another post to talk about Mom’s questions about homosexuality and how can you tell if you are homosexual. Trust me, I did not start this conversation, but clearly she had been giving it a great deal of thought.
Peace,
JaneEllen
Other times life’s absurdities just makes me giggle – yes, I do giggle.
My situation shifts across the poles of this continuum. Sometimes I am open to the humor and other times, when the dark clouds move in, I can’t see the humor at all. That is when I know I need to pray, vent to a friend and get back to a healthier mode.
Humor. It floats in like a feather wafting down, landing on your shoulder, just waiting to be noticed. You have to be careful, for like a feather that flies away with the tiniest of breezes, the comedic moment lasts but for a second. The trick is to capture it, place in it your memory and let it tickle your heart. Then whenever the clouds begin forming on the horizon, you can always pull it out for your spirit to float again, like the feather.
Ok, enough philosophical meandering. Two of the stories are about Mom and one is about Dad. This stuff cracks me up. I hope you get a laugh out of it.
I have written how Mom is starting to mix up words, coming close to the what she wants to say, but not quite. As an old history teacher use to say, “Right church, wrong pew”. Well now it is starting with food. Here are her two stories.
One night I wanted to go to the gym before I ate dinner, so it would be leftover night. I told them about the chicken and the rice that just needed reheating. There was salad and of course the ever present ice cream for dessert. “No problem,” they replied. When I returned home they were just cleaning up the dishes, putting away any leftovers and getting ready for dessert.
Mom tells Dad, “I’m throwing out this rice. It was really crunchy”. Hmmm…. I look over and see her dumping the rice into the sink. Here’s the thing, Mom had dumped the leftover, cooked rice into the frying pan and thought she was making fried rice. She didn’t add anything to it. Just cold rice in the pan and add heat. No wonder it was crunchy! To confirm my suspicions, I asked her if she had made Fried Rice. “Yes, but it is too hard and crunchy!”. There you go folks…if you are going to make fried rice you need to add oil, sauté onions, fry a couple of eggs and then add the rice and soy sauce. You can’t just throw it in the pan and switch on the burner. Mom just kept saying how crunchy it was. It makes me laugh, still.
Food faux pas #2
This is a rice vs. potato mix up. Adrienne made hash brown potatoes as a side dish for dinner. Mom kept calling it rice. Adrienne would correct her and tell her she was making hash browns. These were the shredded hash brown potatoes, so it kind of look like rice – if you really stretch your imagination, or if you have Alzheimer’s and you can’t remember squat. All through dinner Mom would comment that she thought the rice tasted funny. Guess so…it was hash brown potatoes. She threw the leftovers out, ‘cause the “rice” was bad.
Dad’s story….
Dad has a tough time in terms of flexibility, especially when using his right hand. He has arthritis in his shoulder, so he can’t reach down to his toes. It happens to most older folks and will probably happen to all of us.
It is around 10:30pm and Mom and I are watching TV. Dad walks in and asks Mom to get the wire cutters in the garage so she can cut his toe nails. I am actually stunned into silence. There is so much craziness in that one sentence that my brain was doing loop-de-loops trying to sort it out. I think my gears froze up.
For one thing, Mom has no clue what wire cutters look like, nor where to look in the vastness of the garage. Her role has been to do the traditional wife duties, which have never included the use of wire cutters.
Problem #2 with this scenario….cutting toe nails with a wire cutter!?!?! What is he smoking????
Problem #3: Dad has diabetes, which leaves him more prone to infections, especially in the toes. And he thinks wire cutters will cut only his nails and not knick/cut his skin.
I put an end to this little party and said we would make an appointment with a podiatrist for this task. Dad agreed to this. Mom like the idea more than Dad. I am still shaking my head about this one.
These are just recent stories. I will save another post to talk about Mom’s questions about homosexuality and how can you tell if you are homosexual. Trust me, I did not start this conversation, but clearly she had been giving it a great deal of thought.
Peace,
JaneEllen
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1 comment:
Oh, now that is too funny! Maybe instead of rice, you guys need to eat mashed potatoes? LOL I can picture your mom saying that too and God love Adrienne for being so patient.
As for the wire cutters....WTF? I have no more words.........
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