Thoughts & Things

Inappropriate Reactions

I am one of those people that tends to have an inappropriate reaction to things. I think it must run in the family, because I know far too many people I am related to who react similarly. I was thinking this recently as every time I talk to my grandmother about my health (which hasn't been too great), she laughs, and then she tells me I should donate my body to science. Just to be clear, I am not dying nor am I dead. I know she reacts this way because my health issues cause her to be stressed and upset.

It got me thinking to times I had reacted inappropriately in various situations. I am the kind of person who laughs at funerals. I actually can't recall not laughing at a funeral. At my great-grandmother's funeral, I recall having a good laugh with my dad. It was sort of a disgusted laugh, because he advised me that he wanted to be buried naked from the waist down--after all, he was going to be stuck there for a long time, and he might as well be comfortable. I recall being at the funeral of a close friend of my mum's, a man who was like family to us, and a whole group of us were laughing. He had been quite the joker and we spent a good bit of time recalling some particularly funny moments with him.

I can even remember an instance where my two year old cousin died when I was maybe roughly nine years old, and after spending about half an hour alone crying, I went back downstairs and watched an episode of the Simpsons. I chuckled the whole way through. I remember getting into a fight with my sister about it, because she is not typically the type to react inappropriately.

I got to think about this as I was prepping for NaNoWriMo, and thinking about how my characters would react under certain circumstances. I was pondering how odd human reactions can truly be. We all have our own ways to cope. I always try to remember this on a personal level (especially every time my grandma tells me to donate my body to science), as well as on a writing level.