I think the inappropriate giggling discussed in the last post may be genetic. I remember my grandfather’s funeral as a specific example. Halfway through the eulogy, my grandmother suddenly doubled over. My aunt and my father were on either side of her and each put an arm around her but she sat right back up like nothing had happened. Later in the car on the way to the cemetery she leaned over to me and explained. She said that she was listening to the eulogy and suddenly had to sneeze. She tried to stifle the sneeze because she didn’t want to disturb the nice eulogy. Then the thought flashed into her mind, “Damn it, I’m the widow! I can sneeze if I want to!” That made her start to laugh which she knew was even more inappropriate than sneezing which made her want to laugh more. That’s when she doubled over from the strain of not laughing. She managed to pull herself together and go on with the service.

Maybe inappropriate laughter is my family legacy…