My grandpa is getting around better than he did after he first had his stroke (just before Christmas). He walked (with his walker) a good ways from my car to my great-aunt Charlotte's house, and up some stairs even. It worries me though, to see that while he's walking with his walker, my grandmother (who is 81) will stand next to him and hold onto the waistband of his pants to make sure he doesn't fall. I can only imagine one day when he loses his balance and she tries to hold him up, that they both fall, and then there are 2 disabled elderly people in the family, and then what? Ugh, scary.
He's also starting to "get his affairs in order". He went and emptied out his storage unit that's got all kinds of odds and ends in it and is giving away the stuff that's worth anything. He's been working on a book detailing the genealogy of our family for the last 8 years, and is finally getting it printed. He's re-doing his will, writing up a living will, etc. All of this scares me, but I understand it. He's 83 years old, he had a stroke recently, he's got prostate cancer, and he's just not going to be around that much longer. People in this family have good genes and tend to make it up into their 90's, but even still, you just don't know.
My mother does the same crap. She had cancer about 4 years ago, and after she finished all her treatment, she put herself on a "five year plan". She wants to make sure she does everything she's ever wanted to do in life before those five years are up. She's written a play, which is on its way to being performed at this little theatre in Chicago. She finished up her thesis. She's been globetrotting like nothing you've ever seen (she was in England last week, and today she's in Guatemala). She also wants to have grandchildren, so you can imagine who she's been bugging about that one.
It's hard to see people talking about and preparing for their own death. I have to admit, it's something I'm completely terrified of. I don't want to imagine my life without any of the people who are in it right now. You can't escape it though, it happens to everyone.
Enough of this morose shit already, here's a puppy:
1 comment:
I know how you feel. My mom has become an Old Person--it scares me how much so each time I go home. I saw her pill case once, and she takes like 10 pills a day. She seems so small and frail to me now, and I wonder, was she always so tiny?
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