black humor....

... something you might not appreciate. Maybe you have to be one of us to see the amusing side of this sort of thing?  When I was in VA this week, spending time with my brother and his wife, he said lots of things that made me laugh, causing me to be thankful his wry, dry warped sense of humor is still intact. Even with the knowledge there is some malevolent encroaching thing growing in there,  incrementally taking over his brain and personality, I am so grateful there is still much of him left for his family to spend time with. Though they all have their frustrating moments of profound irritation, there are equally capable  of finding joy in the moment.


We steered him back into his recliner last night, after his younger son came to take the night shift. He got situated, then reported he had a problem with  his right hand. His clever wife went to the laundry room, then stopped at the microwave to warm a sock to apply to the place he said was cramping. I thought her idea was genius! My only suggestion would have been 'here, eat this banana', as I know they are high in potassium and supposedly would alleviate muscle cramps.

That did not seem to provide relief, so his son went to get a little soft rubber ball like the ones used in rehab. to rebuild strength by repeatedly squeezing. He returned with a small red ball made of soft foam, and a pink piece of foam shaped like a fist sized brain. The young man  placed the squeeze toy shaped like the brain in his dad's hand,where it neatly fit into his palm, to be repeatedly compressed and released for exercising his fingers. His dad asked him: 'what is this for?' The response he got from the young man, "You better hang on to that, you are going to need one!"

Every time you would suggest to it might be 'time' for a snack, or a meal, or 'time' to take meds., he would start quoting the poem from the Alice story by Lewis Carroll:

“The time has come," the Walrus said, 
   “To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
   Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot-- 
   And whether pigs have wings.”

(excerpt from: The Walrus and the Carpenter)
 Just completely out of the blue: if that's not funny, I don't know what is. Especially for a man with evil growing inside his cranium that is affecting his memory!