My great grandmother used to say she had “the Walker sense of humor.” She said it with quite a lot of pride. It implied a quick wit, and the ability to find the humor in anything. I think it also implied a certain set of catchphrases that a Walker could use in appropriate situations.
She had one herself that came up today when I heard one of my wife’s co-workers on a call say “shit fire.” Great-grandma would be so proud that in that moment she was remembered, nearly thirty years after he death, and that her memory gave a total stranger to her a laugh.
“Shit fire and save matches!”
That was how she said it. Missus said that “shit fire” must be a California thing, because of what I sometimes said, then she said it to him, and he laughed and said, “I’ve never heard that second part.” I’ve never heard it without it, so it was good to hear the first part at all.
I don’t believe a person lives at all beyond their death, in any way. They don’t “live in our hearts,” or live in our memories. But they are there, kept as a little treasure in our minds, and it sure does feel good to have those memories triggered and get a little smile while thinking of someone long ago gone away, and to see their influence passed along in some small way. That it what gives life to them.
I miss you great grandma. You deserve whatever immortality you can get that brings happiness.