Granny

Ok so this is take 2 on the granny post... apparently the blog didn't like it the first time and decided to erase it so here I am out at bren's cousin and I am supposed to be drinking my heart out and instead I am determined to make this work so here it goes.

Rewind Many Years:
So after I got the phone call from dad on thursday night I was sitting around with Bren remembering granny in the good old days and I was telling her all about how grandma and grandpa used to drive down to visit us about once or twice a year and sharon and I would wait for their car to pull up to see what toys they brought for us and help them unload all of the fresh vegetables and stuff they brought from the garden. Then after they got there we would sit around and play rummy for pennies and danny wasn't allowed to play until he was old enough and even then he had to have the permission of his parents to gamble. We weren't allowed to wake grandma up until at least noon (and people wonder where I got it from), and then she would sit around all day drinking her endless cup of coffee ( I don't think I ever saw grandma drink anything but coffee until she got sick.) Coffee with breakfast, lunch and dinner and all times inbetween. And who could forget going up to all of the family reunions which were always held on grandpa's birthday if I remember correctly. Lots of good fun, family and games... such as pin the boobs on the lady!! (yup that's my grandpa for you). Going up and visiting them at the trailer and going fishing in the creek behind their house. Good fun.

Fast forward a couple of years:
Grandma was diagnosed with alzheimers and she started to slip away from us. They kept coming down for their visits and it started... well grandma can't play rummy with us anymore, grandma can't really get dressed by herself anymore. And as it got worse grandpa's true colors showed. I remember dad talking about how it became so obvious in these years just how much grandpa loved grandma. How he tried so hard to take care of her himself but eventually it was futile and he had to put her into the home despite his efforts.... I hate that home. I went to see her there despite my hate of the home and I remember walking in and grandma loved to walk... she immediately grabbed my hand and just started walking around the nurses station over and over again forever. (I think I was her favorite lol... just kidding but I was the baby grandchild). One time I was at the nursing home with Aunt Linda and mom and dad and we were swinging with granny on the swing and aunt linda had warned me to go slow and grandma said "Well you can go faster than that" so I gave a giant kick and grandma looked at aunt linda and said "Will you just shut up!" It became blatently clear that grandma had lost her ability to word things properly. Eventually she broke her hip and she slid so far down hill that she lost her ability to recognize people, talk and walk. It was hard to see her like that.

Fast Forward to Last Weekend:
Dad and mom came up last weekend to see grandpa because he was apparently having mini strokes every day. We all went down to the nursing home and were pleasantly surprised. Not only did we find grandpa to be better than we thought he would be but grandma was wide awake and laughing having a grand old time with everyone there. I hadn't seen her that well in years. She was wide awake and she was so happy to see everyone... she was laughing and for the first time in a while I felt like I was drawn to pay attention to grandma instead of grandpa. I was talking to her pretty much the whole time. Touching her face etc. She was laughing and I swear she said my name... the first words she had said in god knows how long. Now I dont care what anyone else believes... she said my name (more proof that I'm the favorite lol). When it came time for all of us to leave grandma's face just dropped and she seemed to get so depressed. She stopped laughing and just got sad. I think Aunt Anne said it the best. She knew it was her time and she had gotten to see us and she knew it would be the last time. I hope that's true to a degree. Anyway, to be honest I always leave the home feeling more than slightly guilty about the fact that I don't get there near often enough but this was honestly the first time I felt like I should make it there more often for grandma than for grandpa. I know it's weird and I can't explain it.

time to be social... fast forward to the wake and funeral to follow.