Life Lessons Part III

Don't look at his lips. They did an awful job. See? Those are all wrong.

This was my youngest Aunt "tawking" (NY accents abound here.. and mine has come back with a vengeance... wanna hear? give me"cawl!") and she smirked. My Mom feigned dismay. And my Aunt replied, How else are we going to get through this?

She is absolutely right.

One of my cousins spoke the last night of the wake. He said the last time he saw Grandpa (and here he got a little choked up) Grandpa slipped him $30 and said he wished it could be more. We all smiled and shook our heads, thinking how much Grandpa had given all of us with his love and his life. My cousin grinned at us and told us what he said in reply.

He said; I do too.

Everyone cracked up.

My extended family possesses such a quick dry wit, the sarcasm drips off of every tongue and the Uncles are the worst. Apparently my male cousins are fast learners.

Where did we get this from? This dark humor, so funny, so self-deprecating, with lots of teasing to go around?

From him, our Grandpa. He was always easier on the daughters and granddaughters. But the sons and grandsons? It was open season. And always with a wink and a twinkle in his eye so we were sure he wasn't serious. We knew we were loved and treasured. We also knew that everyone was aware of our downfalls, and that to poke fun at human nature was the best defense.

We learned to laugh. To see the humor and irony in life. We learned not to take ourselves too seriously... and now I can just hear my Uncle say Well, maybe everyone but Marc. And the laughter would start again, and my older cousin would acknowledge this shot with a wave of the hand and a nod in agreement.

It punctuated our visits, weaving the silver around the clouds of sadness that sometimes occurred. It was comforting to see that that will never change.

The tears mingled with the laughter this past weekend.

It's part of the legacy that was left to us all.