This isn''t funny... or is it?

[Ninama]

I just ran into my brother... who informed me that "the post office lost Mom". That is to say, her remains have gone missing, courtesy of the USPS. Why does this sound like an episode of Seinfeld?

I have a very dark sense of humor and my mom passed away from Alzeimer''s, late September. Of course it was sad, but as anyone who has lost someone after a long, horrible illness knows - there is some relief for everyone. Is it crass to find this latest developement kind of funny?

 

[TravelingGal]

I am so sorry to hear that! And very sorry about the loss of your mom.

But to answer your question...I kind of have a sense of humor like yours. I find almost everything funny...or at least can see the humor in things even though I am not exactly laughing myself. I''ve been saying since my college days...sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.

I hope they find her.

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Sigh . . .

Leave it to the USPS.

I, too, hope they find her quickly.

DB

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 11/19/2007 9:02:53 PM
Author: TravelingGal

I am so sorry to hear that! And very sorry about the loss of your mom.

But to answer your question...I kind of have a sense of humor like yours. I find almost everything funny...or at least can see the humor in things even though I am not exactly laughing myself. I''ve been saying since my college days...sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.

I hope they find her.

I am sorry about your Mom. Hope they find her, and soon. I had the same thing happen when my brother died. His ashes were coming from NYC, got lost in transit. When they arrived, I was like well how do I really know that''s him?? Kinda funny when you think about it. I am aslo in the camp of finding humor, the alternative isn''t fun. I''d rather laugh than cry any day.

 

[Skippy123]

Ahh, I am so sorry for the loss of your mom. I hope they find her and glad you can laugh about it. ((((hug))))

 

[KimberlyH]

I would find this quite amusing if it were my mom.

My MIL passed away last Feb after an 8 year battle with Alzheimer''s, I know how painful the process is; my sympathies to you and your family.

 

[DiamanteBlu]

BTW, I am giggling about the USPS losing her.

My grandfather died of Alzheimers before it was well known [1984]. It is a very long and painful way to go for all involved. My mother insisted that he had it but everybody discounted the diagnosis [it was in Italy] and . . . she was right!

 

[IrishAngel7982]

I''m so sorry for the loss of your mom, but if it were me I would definitely be chuckling. It''s healthy to find humor in these things so no, I don''t believe it is crass to find the situation amusing. That said, I hope she comes home very soon.

 

[decodelighted]

I''m sorry for your loss and happy for your sense of humor!

Count me in the semi-warped/dark camp humor-wise ... my beloved fave grandma passed away very unexpectedly when I was about 22 and during a last minute scramble to find her misplaced false teeth to take to the funeral home, I suggested a possible replacement: the wind-up chattering kind. It was a rare moment of levity that day, at least amongst my many younger siblings & I ... and I *know* my funky/cool/wry gramma was laughing from beyond also....

Hope she turns up soon ... with postmarks from tropical & scenic travels!

 

[Mara]

i''m also one of those freakish sense of humor, wry, dark, irony, whatever types...i''m sorry to hear about your mom though.

maybe she took a detour in a tropical climate? someplace she always wanted to visit!

guess you should have used FedEx!!!

 

[door knob solitaire]

I can''t believe I am adding something so insensitive to this thread...

From what I understand, one of the negative aspects of Alzheimer''s is you get lost. Don''t know where you are...Don''t know who you are to tell an UPS agent.

It all fits...sounds perfectly normal to me.

DKS

I am truly sorry for the loss of your mother. I hope you arrive quickly to the smiling remembering phrase...and out of the painful one. I bet she may be pleased to learn of this conversation...complete strangers hoping to support you, any way we can.

 

[Selkie]

Oh man...sometimes you definitely have no choice but to laugh at life''s absurdities. Alzheimers takes such a toll on families. I''m sorry for your loss, but I understand the relief you''re feeling as well. And I hope you don''t think I''m horrible that my second thought after sympathy when I read your post was to suggest that maybe you should check at Disneyland (in light of another recent thread about ashes)?

 

[bee*]

Date: 11/19/2007 11:01:07 PM
Author: door knob solitaire
I can''t believe I am adding something so insensitive to this thread...


From what I understand, one of the negative aspects of Alzheimer''s is you get lost. Don''t know where you are...Don''t know who you are to tell an UPS agent.


It all fits...sounds perfectly normal to me.


DKS


I am truly sorry for the loss of your mother. I hope you arrive quickly to the smiling remembering phrase...and out of the painful one. I bet she may be pleased to learn of this conversation...complete strangers hoping to support you, any way we can.

Phew Im not the only one that thought that

. That''s all I could think of! I think it''s great that you have a sense of humour about this-I''d be the exact same. I hope that they find her soon!

 

[VRBeauty]

Garrison Keilor had a funny/touching bit about lost ashes on Prairie Home Companion recently. It's just a lot easier to laugh about something happening to ashes than the alternative

.

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your mother.... I suspect she'd appreciate that you get something to chuckle about in this difficult time.

 

[zoebartlett]

I''m so sorry for your loss Ninama! I hate to admit this but I was chuckling a little while reading this thread. Yes, it does sound like a Seinfeld episode. I often burst out laughing (or try very hard not to) at the most inopportune times, so I did find humor in this.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

OMG I''m so warped. It''s not even funny how badly I''m warped. My friend ran head first into a filing cabinet last week and gave himself a concussion and I almost peed my pants. Of course then I went and got him some ice....

I''m sorry about the loss of your mom. Can they do an amber alert for her?

 

[Ellen]

Seinfeld, yes.....


In fact, it reminded me of my own dark humorous side. A few years ago, my dearest uncle in FL passed away. My aunt had his remains sent up here where he''s originally from (IL), until she flew up for the funeral. I put the box in the closet, for lack of a better place. (I mean, where does one "store" a favorite relative??)

That night, I was sitting at the club, talking to my friend, and all of a sudden I said, "Sherry, my uncle''s in the closet". We looked at each other and started laughing. We proceeded to laugh, so hard, that no sound was coming out. We were both exhausted by the time we quit. Another, it''s funny but it''s not.


So yeah, this could be funny.


And for the record, anyone could have lost her. It''s just appropo it was the P.O.


And I''m really sorry about your mom.

 

[oobiecoo]

I''m so sorry to hear about your loss and about the mail mishap. It is a little humorous... perfectly fine to laugh about something like this after the suffering has ended.
My best friend''s grandfather died before her mom was even born... he was a milkman and it was a "tragic milk truck accident". Everytime I hear the story I can''t help but chuckle because I picture broken glass jars and milk everywhere... with stray cats licking it up!

 

[Ninama]

Date: 11/20/2007 7:25:35 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
OMG I''m so warped. It''s not even funny how badly I''m warped. My friend ran head first into a filing cabinet last week and gave himself a concussion and I almost peed my pants. Of course then I went and got him some ice....


I''m sorry about the loss of your mom. Can they do an amber alert for her?

That would be me... omg. I have to smack my own wrist, sometimes... and so did my mom! She was ejcected from some big church in Rome for cracking up with her sister - and they were both in their 40s at the time. She said they fell to the curb, laughing, and then couldn''t get because they''d both peed themselves - and the sidewalk.

She''d been a fashion model in Chicago and San Francisco in the 1950s and sometimes her looks belied her eccentricity. In the ''60s she opened a ''junktique'' shop (after she and my Dad divorced) and would sometimes traipse around the town we lived in a FULL gorilla costume. She dabbled in belly dancing in the ''70s, studied clowning and had a profitable plantation of high-end contraband in the ''80s. She had a serious green thumb in that area! I guess I can say that, now. It''s hard to guet busted for drugs when you''re dead.

She was artsy-fartsy, too. She painted and sculpted and finally settled on being a mask maker in Santa Fe. She used unlikely materials... like dryer lint.

I was thinking that it was only fitting for her to get lost, too... probably just not ready to settle in the San Fernando Valley!

 

[Ellen]

Aw nina, your mom sounds like she was a really facinating, and entertaing person. Luck you to have had her.

And yeah, it sounds like she would appreciate this.

 

[HollyS]

Date: 11/19/2007 8:21:34 PM
Author:Ninama
I just ran into my brother... who informed me that ''the post office lost Mom''. That is to say, her remains have gone missing, courtesy of the USPS. Why does this sound like an episode of Seinfeld?

I have a very dark sense of humor and my mom passed away from Alzeimer''s, late September. Of course it was sad, but as anyone who has lost someone after a long, horrible illness knows - there is some relief for everyone. Is it crass to find this latest developement kind of funny?

No it isn''t crass; it''s hilarious. Laugh! She probably is! When my mother passed away (rather suddenly 4 yrs ago), my sisters and I started getting silly at the funeral home while making the arrangements! My mother had a sense of humor about such things, and she would have been laughing too. The funeral director wasn''t even phased; he''s seen it all before. It was just our way of dealing with our grief, and he knew that.

Hopefully, she will be found and all will be well.

 

[nebe]

I would say it's funny in an ironic sort of way.

At least your mom is in a better place, even if her remains are lost.

I laugh at really inappropriate times because it's my initial reaction to anything unnerving, so maybe I'm not one to talk.

 

[Kay]

Date: 11/20/2007 10:50:06 AM
Author: Ninama

Date: 11/20/2007 7:25:35 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
OMG I''m so warped. It''s not even funny how badly I''m warped. My friend ran head first into a filing cabinet last week and gave himself a concussion and I almost peed my pants. Of course then I went and got him some ice....


I''m sorry about the loss of your mom. Can they do an amber alert for her?

That would be me... omg. I have to smack my own wrist, sometimes... and so did my mom! She was ejcected from some big church in Rome for cracking up with her sister - and they were both in their 40s at the time. She said they fell to the curb, laughing, and then couldn''t get because they''d both peed themselves - and the sidewalk.

She''d been a fashion model in Chicago and San Francisco in the 1950s and sometimes her looks belied her eccentricity. In the ''60s she opened a ''junktique'' shop (after she and my Dad divorced) and would sometimes traipse around the town we lived in a FULL gorilla costume. She dabbled in belly dancing in the ''70s, studied clowning and had a profitable plantation of high-end contraband in the ''80s. She had a serious green thumb in that area! I guess I can say that, now. It''s hard to guet busted for drugs when you''re dead.

She was artsy-fartsy, too. She painted and sculpted and finally settled on being a mask maker in Santa Fe. She used unlikely materials... like dryer lint.

I was thinking that it was only fitting for her to get lost, too... probably just not ready to settle in the San Fernando Valley!

Your mom sounds like a fun lady -- I bet she would have seen the humor in this situation too. Maybe she just needed to take once last trip around the world before she settled into the Valley.

 

[Haven]

ETA: I don't know what happened. I posted a response to a completely different topic and it ended up here. Sorry!

 

[Jas12]

Ninama--I think your mom just wanted to take a detour--she doesn''t sound like a "follow the well-worn path" type of woman. She''s fascinating--you should write about her life--if only for your own reflection down the road.

UPS is the worst!!!--they left my newly re-sized diamond ring *outside* on my back door step with a very large monetary value printed on a visible customs form. I complained, but to no avail.

 

[asscherisme]

Yikes! I''m sorry for the loss of your mother. I lost my father 3 years ago. Hardest thing I ever went through.

I''m glad you can laugh. Perhaps this is her way of getting in one last jouirney

I hope they find her soon.

 

[surfgirl]

Yes it''s funny and I''d be laughing too. Perhaps you can make a U-Tube short movie about "Finding Mom" and shame the USPS into some sort of compensation...a trip...to find Mom...