Laughter and Grief

For the most part, death isn’t funny.

“Grief” and “humor” aren’t often used in the same sentence. There are moments in the beginning of grief when we’re laughing hysterically, but generally that’s in the middle of the night and it’s not a happy sound. Or we’re laughing while standing by ourselves in the woods holding on to a tree to keep from falling. Or we’re in the shower staring at the soap for five minutes. These moments are more about trying not to cry than anything funny.

Zen Nietzsche

My essay at Elephant Journal

As Gary Larson said, it’s not the Bluebird of Happiness that’s flapped into my life, but the Chicken of Depression. Grief led me up the steep switchbacks to the top of a Sierra Nevada mountain where the wind blows over a stone land scrimshawed with snow.

https://www.elephantjournal.com/2018/01/a-graceful-example-of-getting-through-lifes-sorrows/