When my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer with only weeks to live, she refused to talk about it,  about death in general or even reminisce about family memories. She wanted to pretend like nothing was going on, lay in bed, drink milkshakes and watch sitcoms. The TV was literally on 24 hours a day and she refused to turn it off and talk with anyone.

As her time drew closer, she started hallucinating that the sitcoms were real life, that the actors were talking to her and she begged me to help them out of their sitcom predicaments. I was tasked with doing everything from taking gifts to their weddings on her behalf to calling my brother to warn him about a bear running loose in a warehouse.

Her last words were muttered while watching "Big Bang Theory". It had something to do with a hat. 

The creepiest and saddest part of it all was that, rather than sharing beautiful enlightening conversations , love and her wisdom with her family, she wanted everyone to pretend nothing was wrong, avoid talking about anything even remotely unpleasant and watch shitty TV. Her final words were directed at a fictional character on a screen, not her own family.