Is it wrong to find humour in the obits, and other important questions...

Saturday, August 25, 2007

My son sometimes asks how he will know what he wants to be when he "grows up". To which I assure him that he need not worry about this now. But he informed me that he has good choices:

a. artist

b. substitute teacher (they don't have to work all the time, leaving free time for computer games and other such fun, he tells me)

c. DJ ("I want to spin records"...exact words)

or

d. Jedi Master

Hard call.

Now I have a question for you: Is it wrong to find humour in the Obituaries? I regularly read them out of my morbid sense of curiosity, and hey, it might be the first and only time they make it in the news, so the least I can do is read about them, right? (Feeling guilt for even admitting this). While reading them today I laughed out loud. Mr. C looked over at me and asked What's so funny?

The obituaries.

Silence.

And the look.

I find humour in bizarre and small things sometimes (OK often). This is what amused me about the particular choice of words that the dearly beloved had to say about their recently departed(among other things, of course):

"....She loved to play Crib and always enjoyed a hamburger and a Pepsi."

The thing is...this made me laugh in a good way, not a mocking way. It made me think about the kind of wonderful and fun person she likely was and how she probably enjoyed the simple things in life.

And I can forgive her for being a Pepsi fan. Coke (Diet) all the way...

Sorry Gail.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25, 2007 at 4:38 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.

1.  Devil Mood said:
   6:56 PM  

   hehe No, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. We don't have that kind of obituary in Portugal (that I know of) but I think I'd find them entertaining because I like to sneak into other people's lives (and deaths, apparently).
   And I'm a Coke fan too. But I won't hold it against Gail.

1.  Devil Mood said:
   6:57 PM  

   The last part of the post distracted me! It's good that your son has some career ideas in his head. Never too early to start thinking about that ;)

1.  Trundling Grunt said:
   9:23 PM  

   I check them to see if I am in there and no-one had remembered to tell me that I'd died.
   
   No, nothing wrong with that at all. I do it myself.

1.  Berlinbound said:
   5:29 AM  

   I read them too, now and then, and find them a bit sad, because once you have read one, about someone you knew but had lost track of or almost forgotten, then they are really gone for good and you realize that this life has been boiled down to a very few words and that all that life, all that living, has evaporated into the mist of nothingness.

1.  Stephanie said:
   9:29 AM  

   Technically, your son could actually manage a number (if not all) of those careers simultaneously. They conveniently allow enough time and flexible hours :)
   
   I would have laughed too. But then, I have a morbid sense of humor, AND I'm the sort of person who hopes someone out there would get a chuckle from my obit.
   
   PS - He really said record? Records??? Yay!!!

1.  Cathy said:
   11:39 AM  

   Hi Guys!
   Thanks for making me feel normal! :)
   
   Stephanie:
   Not only did he use the word record, but he made the hand motion like he was scratching one like a rapper...and he's only 6!

1.  Anonymous said:
   12:29 AM  

   Now I feel like I'm really missing out on something great by not reading the obituaries. I'll have to read them next time I'm looking for a good laugh. I don't think you're strange for reading them at all, especially since it's like you say - all in good humour and you see the fun ideosyncracies that made people who they were. I think that's great.

1.  Pat Paulk said:
   10:22 AM  

   I find that a wonderful obit. Beats most I've ever read. Don't read them often, scared I'll find mine.

1.  holy chaos said:
   11:07 PM  

   i read the obits occasionally. i find them interesting (strange?)
   
   your son reminds me of my son when he was that age.

leave a comment