I have just come from yet another funeral. Now this one was a little different.

It was like others in the respect that the deceased was a senior citizen, and someone I knew through work, and there was no shortage of familiar faces paying respects. The difference was, I stood in line sniggering the whole time. I couldn’t help it. And yes, there’s a difference between snickering & sniggering. Snickering is when you’re laughing with somebody about something (or someone) but you’re trying not to. Sniggering is lower in the gut & deeper & knowing you shouldn’t be laughing & trying to stop. I thankfully got to Tuletta quickly & apologized, I didn’t mean any disrespect. I COULDN’T HELP IT. Tuletta’s mother was one of the biggest practical jokesters I’ve ever met & every picture they showed of her you could tell she was into some sort of trickery or meanness. Bows on her head, britchie leg yanked up, fluttering eyelashes behind Greta Garbo sunglasses. I kept getting tickled. The pictures made me think of my own memories…she was one of those ladies who carried her possessions in her bra. She’d embarrass Tuletta to death when they’d stop to get a biscuit before work & Hazel would whip out a roll of money from her cleavage. Tuletta was always afraid she’d go to diggin’ for change. And everybody knew her, she was Postmaster at the little Seymour Post Office for umpteen years. And then the infamous calls: “Get your elastic waist pants on, we’re going’ to Red Lobster!” I could just hear the woman cracking up. I had to get a grip! I was in the funeral home, less than three feet from the body! Anyway, that got Tuletta to laughing & then I felt super guilty ’cause her daughter was looking at us like we’d flew the coop. But she said she’d picked those pictures for that very reason. And we talked about what Hazel would say if she were in attendance. “I know exactly! ‘Look at those roses! They’re bee-yoooo-ti-ful! Oh, honey, I just love them. Reckon I could start some off a clipping? I don’t have anything on the side of the house facing the well…'” Tuletta agreed wholeheartedly.

Tuletta’s mother has been sick for many years & it has been quite the hardship & heartache on her. It would be difficult to watch anyone you love suffer from dementia & slip a little further away each day, but most especially your mother that you have lived just down the road from almost your entire adult life. A mother you really loved & were thick as thieves with. A mother who was truly your best friend. So. Hazel’s gone, but I tell you: she looked younger tonight than she did ten years ago. I think she was happy to be under that massive blanket of roses & even happier to be celebrating in her new heavenly home.

The best part is, as I sit here writing that comment, I’m giggling & J asks what I’m laughing about. “Hazel.” I answered simply. “I thought she was the one who just died,” he responded with a puzzled expression. “She did. That’s the best part.”