Keeping a Stiff Upper Lip & All That Jazz

If you find that some days, the humour that feels exactly right is in the form of a British Comedy group, you are not alone.  If you hear the sound of hooves yet picture two hollow coconuts being clapped together, then we are both laughing together right now.  The Comedy group that I am thinking of specifically is Monty Python.  The humour is timeless.  Perhaps, you too were introduced to this comedy in university.  Truthfully, the first time that I watched one of the sketches, I wondered what was so funny.  It was, I found, an acquired taste.  Our friends at university did warn those of us that were not fans of Monty Python that one day we would think it was hilarious.  They were right!  It took me about 10 years to “get” Monty Python but once I did, it began to provide countless laughs.

You may be asking right about now what in the wide world Monty Python, British comedy in general & diabetes or 365 challenges have in common.  Believe it or not, there is a connection!  The segue is coming up.  If memory serves me, I think it was in “The Holy Grail” that Monty Python did the sketch where the knights were battling & one of the fellows portrayed a knight who got very injured to say the least.  The fellow’s continued response was, “it’s only a flesh wound.”    That is kind of how I got thinking recently about how we sometimes “deal” with either our diabetes or other 365 challenges.  We may look at our challenges day in & day out with the preverbal “stiff upper lip” that has been portrayed time & time again by Monty Python in many of their sketch comedies.

Perhaps you are no “stranger” to the stiff upper lip philosophy for given situations as well.  To share with you, one of the strongest ladies that I know is my Grandma B.  She journeyed over to live in Canada when she met & married Grandpa following WW2.  Taking the “leap across the pond” from England must have been a huge move in more ways than one for her.  Grandma though always has been one of those gals that does what needs to be done & is no fading flower.  She figures out what needs to be done & she just does it.  That could mean raising a large family while being posted in different provinces in Canada as well as in Europe.  Gran is the eldest of 7 sisters in her family & she is the only sibling that left jolly England.  The cool thing is that she is not “your typical granny.”  She is spirited & a hoot to say the least.  Have you gone on a vacation with your Grandma?  It may have been a fairly typical vacation where you were either with your parents & grandparents & camping together or something similar to that.  I had the enjoyment of doing lots of that kind of vacationing with family over the years & it brings a smile to my face.  You will have your own beautiful memories of family times shared during vacations I hope.  One vacation in particular that stands out in a humourous way is the one where my Grandma B & I took a holiday together in Mexico for 2 weeks when I was about 23 years old.  It was shortly after I graduated from UW & had saved up enough loot to go on my first “adult” holiday.  If you are laughing right now that someone would choose his or her grandma to go on a first adult holiday, you don’t quite know my Grandma B!  She has the energy of a collection of 20 year olds, a sense of humour, adventure, and independence that is unstoppable.  That was the vacation that Gran & I would partake, as a lot of folks do, in happy hour beside the pool.  Gran would suggest that I order our drinks & surprise her with something that I thought she had not had before.  One day at happy hour, I decided that she would receive a long island iced tea.  A few sips into mine, I ended up “feeding the plant” since I could tell that I was not made of sturdy enough stock to drink the whole thing.  Grandma, however, merely commented that it was one of the strongest tasting drinks she had ever had but that she would finish it all the same.  Long story short, following that “ice tea”, I heard stories from Grandma about all sorts of adventures she had had.  A large group in fact circled around Gran as she told these stories of her life.  It was a hoot.  Young & older folks at the hotel insisted on sitting at Gran’s table since she was so interesting & such a character.  Many of the stories reminded me of the virtue of strength that I admire about my Gran to this day whether we call it strength or “a British gal’s stiff upper lip!”

Grandma’s way of living of “I will simply find a way & do it” stays with me.  We are blessed to have her in our lives still brewing the tea that would melt steel, sharing stories & jokes & getting things done with independence & strength.

There are those days for all of us when we feel kind of “beaten up” by our 24-7 diabetes or 365 challenge.  Those are the days when sometimes we need a hug yet other days, we may just need someone that we dearly admire that is a person of strength that we can emulate in our own original way.

My heart’s hope for you is that you have a person that you admire that is a person of strength that provides the assurance that you are stronger than you think too!

Smiles, Saundie :)

Enjoy your week & Friday's sharing is "The Extra Mile, Crocodile!"  After this Friday, for the summer months, I will share once a week every Monday :)