Do you ever find something ridiculously funny but then stop and think – ‘yeesh … what if other people don’t find it nearly as funny’?
I do. Quite often, in fact.
Here’s one that has had me scratching my head (and quietly laughing to myself) recently.
And it’s one that, were my Dad still alive, would crack us both up over and over again.
There’s a street in my town that I drive down regularly; it’s a lovely tree-lined street with a park on one side and a handful of tucked-back-from-the-street businesses on the other side. One of those is a lovely Senior Assisted Living facility. It’s a wonderful building with beautiful landscaping.
And along the street are three large blue banners with white letters, mounted in the grass parking strip, and that flutter with even the smallest breeze.
WELCOME | SENIOR | LIVING
You know how sometimes something is funny – and SAD – at the same time? You start laughing because it’s funny and then the ridiculousness of it is sad, and you’re laughing and crying at the same time?
Yup. Me. Last week.
Here’s what happened: I was driving down the street, and the breeze caught the banners. Enough of a breeze that as I came alongside the banners, they swung around.
To this.
LIVING | SENIOR | WELCOME
Now, to most people, they’d not even notice the change in message.
But to me? Oh. My. Goodness.
I just turned 65, so while I think of myself as a Baby Boomer and most definitely NOT a senior citizen, in my granddaughter’s eyes, I bet she thinks I am one.
My first thought was:
WHAT the HECK!? Living Seniors are welcome? Are not-living seniors, um, NOT welcome?
My second thought was: CALL DAD.
My third thought was: Nope, can’t.
(DANG I hate that he’s gone from this world.) But I can tell him what I’m seeing and I’m SURE he’s listening.
Which is when I started to laugh. Not just laugh. LAUGH. Like hard, HARD LAUGHING.
I laughed so hard I had to pull over. And then tears. Not just tears – TEARS. (Did I mention I miss my Dad and his wicked sense of humor??)
My conversation with Dad went something like this: Hey Pops – I thought of you just now - I saw THE FUNNIEST THING ever! So, I’m driving down the street and there are these banners and they say Living Seniors Welcome. Like …. If you’re an alive senior you’re welcome. But if you’re not alive, don’t come knocking because, well, you’re not, um, LIVING, which means you’re not particularly welcome.
And then, as we’re still in the middle of the horror of Covid-19 and the subsequent deaths – especially in senior care centers – I felt pretty darn guilty that I was laughing. And the TEARS? They were for all the people who didn’t survive this pandemic/virus, and for all the families who are missing them so desperately.
I was laughing and crying both, at the ridiculousness of the entire situation, and at banners that were just fluttering happily in the breeze, and that, I found SO FUNNY.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes, in the midst of incredible challenges, a little humor is a good thing.
And I, for one, laugh every time I drive past these banners.
Which, right now, is a GOOD THING.
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