Grown Up People, Innocent

When my great grandmother died, I was quite young, but old enough to understand the natural factors behind death. My grown ups, as I used to call them, were over protective about my emotions. Grown ups were all the elders (my grandmother, her friends or any uncles or aunties.) We had the advantage of going to any of them to ask about anything. Most of the time the answer would be the same. So when my great grandmother passed away, instead of giving me an answer about death they ended up talking to me about life. Their outlook and advice were priceless. It went on like this:"Remember your creator, combat bad and destructive emotions, cultivate and grow good feelings, don't touch alcohol and protect your inner self." It was cute how my parents (an accountant and a teacher) would quietly listen along with me and nod "gee Amajaan" (yes mother) as if they were inexperienced youth. Thus we were able to keep ourselves from the misery of finding answers about death and the one we lost.
Leslie Neilsen passed away, leaving a lot of funny memories. We were watching "Naked Gun" with our extended family. There was a scene where a driving instructor actually told the student to extend her hand out, fold her hand except he middle finger, then show it to the impatient fellow drivers on the road. My sister-in-law was so embarrassed that she cupped her hands and buried her face. I then remembered that she came from the time when innocence was not uncommon.