Grandma’s Beer Drip: A Hilarious Hospital Tale of Joy and Life

It was a sunny morning in the hospital Doctors and nurses were hurrying up and down the halls, checking machines and carrying charts, and talking in low tones. In one of the quietest corners of the hospital there was a small sun-drenched room. Grandma Rose lay on the bed, a woman of ninety-one, silver haired as soft as clouds, eyes full of mischief.

The strongest spirit was known to be grandma Rose in her family. Her body was aged, but her heart was ever dancing with laughter and her mind was full of humorous ideas. She was in a hospital gown and the IV drip was beside her bed, the clear bag was hanging up high and slowly sending medicine into her veins. Around her were flowers, cards and little gifts given by her family on how much she was loved.

Her son David had visited. He was an exhausted man in the middle-age who could always sit with his mother. He went and sat by her bedside and took her hand.

Mom, how do you feel today?

Grandma Rose smiled over him Oh, I am all right but I have a thought.

David elevated his eyebrows. What is the idea, Mom?”

She was pointing to the IV drip with a thin finger. Then she stared at the little bottle of beer that David had given her as a joke present. Why not put your beer in my drip, she said. It will give me the feel of life once again! The drug is somniferous but the beer is stimulating.”

And David gasped, and laughed. “Mom! That is not the way it works!

The nurse entered in to see when David laughed loudly. She observed them, both, curiously. David told what Grandma had said and the nurse was laughing soon.

Grandma Rose straightened up and was bargaining. Why not make the attempt? Why not a bit of a taste through the veins, she said, winking the eyes of a child in a joke.

The nurse smiled, and shook her head. “Mrs. Rose you were the only patient I could laugh at during rounds. But no beer in the drip, on please!”

In a little while the entire floor knew of the joke of Grandma. Physicians, nurses and even fellow patients looked in to smile at her. She was the celeb of the day.

Then the laughter died away, and Grandma Rose started to tell stories. She talked about her youth when she used to sit by the river with her friends and take cold beer in the summer nights. She explained to her son that she had danced in weddings, that she had sung in loud songs and that she had always thought that happiness was the true medicine of life.

The doctors can provide you pills, but laughter can make your soul alive. And a wee bit of beer can aid also!”

David sat with his eyes full of tears. He found out that his mother was not merely joking about the beer. She was teaching a lesson that no matter where one was, hospital bed included, life could and still would be a lot of fun and sparkle.

David went home that night and cogitated over what his mother had said. With a special plan the following day he went to the hospital. He had brought a cooler with him, not of medicine, but of little bottles of no-alcohol beer.

Mom, he grinned, the doctors won;t allow me to put beer in your drip but I have found a safe method. That you can drink, and it will taste like that.”

Grandma Rose smiled. She picked up the bottle and raised it slowly and drank deeply. Her eyes were shining. Oh! that is the flavour of life! said she.

All in the room applauded. The nurses even cheered her. The small gesture made the hospital room a celebration room.

Grandma Rose was a household name in the hospital thereafter. Other room visitors would pay a visit just to listen to her jokes. The nurses would deliver her flowers, the doctors would come by to hear her stories and even the clean-up staff enjoyed gossiping with her.

Her humorous request concerning a beer in the drip was legendary. Others told it and laughed every time they did. It was not the beer but it was her spirit. She had reminded the world at the age of ninety-one that life is about happiness, laughter and boldness even in difficult moments.

When she did go home the hospital was a little less crowded and her story remained behind. All those who had known her took along her lesson: medicine cures the body, laughter cures the soul.

And grandma Rose? She went on and continued to crack jokes, continue sipping her beer and continue reminding everyone that a joyful heart is the best medicine.