Margaret.
What a game show theme song can teach us about grief, memory, and the persistence of joy
Details have been altered to protect patient privacy and ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations.
The theme song of Family Feud sang through the small cafe where I found myself sitting alone at the bar.
I looked up to Steve Harvey’s bushy mustache and boisterous smile as he waltzed from each contestant, always quick to joke and deliver the punchline before getting on with the episode.
The grab of the show is quite contagious. Even the bartender turned around to tune in.
Subconsciously, my mind was teleported back to the last time I had watched the show, playing back memories etched somewhere deep in my mind.
And I remembered her.
She was a hospice patient. Her name was Margaret. She had curly brown hair and the most carefree chuckle one could ever have, despite having a rapidly progressing diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease at the age of 68.
She couldn’t get up from her chair anymore.
Parkinson’s may have stole her body, but it would never touch her joy.
Instead of reading Bible verses, Margaret wished to watch a show together, a type of companionship that didn’t ask anything of her and was content just sitting and laughing together.
It was always Family Feud.
I met with her each week, and often brought popcorn. We’d watch two full episodes and laugh until our bellies cramped and ached. I’d always pray for her before leaving and tell her I’d see her next week.
She would always chuckle and wink.
“Life is a gift,” she’d say, “never to be taken for granted.”
Then one day after arriving at the facility, I learned that she passed away in her sleep.
I’d like to think that she’s still laughing up there, filling heaven with the same joy she shared with me.
So I stayed for two full episodes at the café that day, unburdened by the slow, honoring her memory.
Then I packed up my things, smiled softly, and sent a prayer up to God, thanking Him for the gift of her life and for the memory that lives within me, kept like a precious heirloom that reawakens within me each time the theme song plays.