Laughter In the Midst of Grief

Last weekend, in the midst of quiet grief,

I received a text from Jes-The-Cat-Sitter.

The text read: Dee, I did something dumb. I’m having trouble using speak-to-text because I’m laughing so hard.

I asked: What did you do?

She said: Here’s a hint. I hope your dad doesn’t want to read today’s paper.

I asked: Did you leave it out for Annie-The-Cat to eat?

She said: Oh, no. No. This was all me. I can’t even say it!

I asked again, curious: What did you do?

She said: I threw it on the roof. On accident. I can’t breathe! I have tears.

I responded, laughing: How did you do that?!

She said: Oh gosh. I was just trying to toss it to the porch out of the way. It was 20 ft away!

I said, still laughing: Is it noticeable on the roof?

She said: Yeah, I think pretty much anyone could see that it’s on the roof.

I asked, genuinely: How will we get it off?

She said: When it rains? Hope for a really strong rain. A deluge!

 

I shook my head at her, laughed, shared the story with the rest of the family, and they all laughed, too. In the middle of our grief, we laughed.

 

Grief is a complicated thing.

It brings anger; it brings peace.

It brings holding on; it brings letting go.

It brings uncertainty; it brings certainty.

There is no right way to grieve; there is no wrong way to grieve (except to not grieve).

Grief is a process.

It ebbs and it flows.

And even in the midst of it,

Even in the midst of tears,

It’s okay to laugh,

Especially when something ridiculous happens,

Like your cat sitter throwing your newspaper on top of your house because she greatly overshot her throw!   

 

Dear God: Thank you for laughter. Thank you for tears. Thank you for friends who pet-sit and throw newspapers on the tops of houses. Thank you for the time that we need to process grief and thank you for not expecting us to not feel sadness when someone dies, even when we know that they were ready to walk into the eternal. Thank you for being God who walks with us through it all. Through Jesus, you have experienced laughter, tears, ridiculous moments of friendship, grief, and sadness. Thank you. So much. Amen.