After my grandfather died in January, my aunts made sure that one of them or one of their friends was sleeping over at my grandmother's house all the time. Grandma was pretty shaken by the loss of her husband of 66 1/2 years, and because of her chronic back problems, everyone agreed that it was better if she had some company during the day and definitely someone else sleeping in the house at night. Then I showed up in March and Grandma's had three months of my being around. And for three months she's been insisting - really, she could live alone if we'd all just give her the chance.
Over the course of 86 years, my grandmother has gone from living with her parents, to a residential position at a children's home where she fell in love with my grandfather, to 66 years of married life. And I, as a woman who's lived alone most of the last 8 years, I'm thinking... Grandma. You have *no* idea what you're asking for.
But the out-of-Tulsa-town family is coming to Tulsa in September and there's going to be a discussion about all of the possible options for Grandma's future. So my dad and my aunts decided that if Grandma thinks she wants to live alone, then she should have the chance to live alone before September.
That experiment was implemented last week; I moved over to stay in the home of one of my aunts while she is traveling for the summer. (I'm back at Grandma's now.) Grandma's week had its ups and downs. She has trouble with the TV and can't reach the top shelves. And she told me the day after I'd left, "Being alone is no fun; there's no one to talk to."
My week can be summed up in two words: "NetFlix" and "Bones". I watched 63 episodes over 10 days. At approximately 44 minutes a piece: more than 46 hours of TV.*
But I haven't been completely idle. I've been working to complete a cross stitch project I started 5 years ago. It marks significant landmarks along the route of the River Thames. My method was to stitch all the place backgrounds, then the border, and to leave the river and the place outlines for the end. So all the backgrounds and border is finished and I'm outlining!
Everything's downstream from here!
*And I'm only into season 4 - so Auntie Em, I may be finding excuses to come see you after you're back....
Over the course of 86 years, my grandmother has gone from living with her parents, to a residential position at a children's home where she fell in love with my grandfather, to 66 years of married life. And I, as a woman who's lived alone most of the last 8 years, I'm thinking... Grandma. You have *no* idea what you're asking for.
But the out-of-Tulsa-town family is coming to Tulsa in September and there's going to be a discussion about all of the possible options for Grandma's future. So my dad and my aunts decided that if Grandma thinks she wants to live alone, then she should have the chance to live alone before September.
That experiment was implemented last week; I moved over to stay in the home of one of my aunts while she is traveling for the summer. (I'm back at Grandma's now.) Grandma's week had its ups and downs. She has trouble with the TV and can't reach the top shelves. And she told me the day after I'd left, "Being alone is no fun; there's no one to talk to."
My week can be summed up in two words: "NetFlix" and "Bones". I watched 63 episodes over 10 days. At approximately 44 minutes a piece: more than 46 hours of TV.*
But I haven't been completely idle. I've been working to complete a cross stitch project I started 5 years ago. It marks significant landmarks along the route of the River Thames. My method was to stitch all the place backgrounds, then the border, and to leave the river and the place outlines for the end. So all the backgrounds and border is finished and I'm outlining!
Everything's downstream from here!
*And I'm only into season 4 - so Auntie Em, I may be finding excuses to come see you after you're back....
Ah, blogging again! Those years in UK were special and we're glad you had them.
ReplyDeleteLove Mom