CAREGIVING CHUCKLES

Laughing While She Laughs at Me

or FUNNY THINGS HAPPEN WHILE CAREGIVING…

There are some things that happen as a Caregiver that are funny.

Things that just make you laugh or chuckle to oneself. The definition of Chuckle is to laugh inwardly or quietly (laugh/giggle). Caregiving Chuckles.

On Friday mornings, my Mom attends a Senior meeting in the Community Room. The Seniors get together to eat pastries and gossip. She loves the meetings mainly due to the sweets since I limit her sugar intake. And I am a Wanna-be Chef, not a baker. However, the meetings do offer me a couple of hours alone while she remains in the building.

Every once in a while, she brings a few store-bought bakery items home from the meeting. And I invariably toss them out or give them to a neighbor. My Mom suffers from Type-2 Diabetes which is why I limit her sugar and wine.

On this particular day, I was attempting to explain to her the danger of mixing her medication with massive amounts of sugar and alcohol. I was very seriously relaying the information that I had received from Dr. Doolittle (her Primary Care Physician) when she started to laugh.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked since I didn’t believe that I was saying anything amusing.

“You should see your face—trying to look stern and grown up.”

“I am being serious,” I responded.

“Yes, that is what’s so funny.”

I had to laugh and so we laughed at me together.

On another occasion, I noticed that my Mom had put her shirt on backwards. When I called it to her attention, she laughed and said, “That must be why it feels so funny.”

This time, we were laughing at something she’d done; however, most of the time, when we laugh together, we’re laughing at me.

Sometimes, I attempt to create a special meal based on one of my Mom’s favorite dishes. By create, I mean developing my own recipe which then requires me to give the dish a name.

One night, I noticed that she hadn’t eaten the entire meal—which she generally does.

“So, you didn’t like my new culinary delight?” I asked.

“What do you call it again?”

And whilst in the middle of naming of my creation, she says, “No, I didn’t like it!”

Caregiving Chuckles.

During allergy season, my Mother needs nasal drops. Unfortunately, she is unable to administer the nasal spray herself and so I have to spray the medication in her nostrils.

One morning, when I was spraying the medication, I noticed that I was spraying with the cap remaining on. None of the nasal spray entered her nose and she began laughing hysterically saying, “You should see the look on your face!”

She does seem to find me very amusing.

There are a couple of old school sitcoms which never fail to make me laugh. “Frasier” and “Will and Grace” always make me chuckle. One night I was literally laughing out loud while watching an episode. My Mom came in to see what I was watching that I found funny.

She started laughing and said, “It’s good to hear you laugh. Sometimes, I laugh listening to your laughter.”

Caregiving Chuckles…