Dementia has a strange way of creating moments that are both heartbreaking and oddly funny.
If you’ve ever cared for someone with memory loss, you will know exactly what I mean.
Like the day the television remote becomes a telephone.
Or when biscuits are hidden in the laundry cupboard “for later”.
Or when someone insists the neighbour’s cat is secretly running the household.
These moments can feel absurd.
But humour in dementia care is not disrespectful.
It’s survival.
Carers quickly learn that if you don’t laugh occasionally, you might cry all day.
And laughter doesn’t mean you care less.
In fact, it often means you care so much that you need a moment of lightness to keep going.
Villages understand this.
Only other carers truly understand why some of these moments become family legends later.
The day dad tried to post the TV remote.
The time mom insisted the dog was the postman.
Humour doesn’t erase the sadness.
But it gives carers the strength to face another day.
Angela Watkins – Editor, Pensioners Forum