"That's a first!" said the aide, with another look at me.
"I've had four pieces today, and that's my limit," said Grandma firmly. I complimented her on her self-discipline.
The aide suggested ice cream, but Grandma declined: "I want something better."
I got Cheetos from her closet, because they sort of have cheese. And she accepted. Since I was there and Grandma was eating, the aide left us, saying she'd come back in a few minutes. When Grandma finished the Cheetos, she was roarin' to get ready for bed, and changed her shirt by herself.
Grandpa came in., and I caught him up to speed. Well, wonder of wonders, he had food! He'd used a Burger King coupon for 2 meals ("It was a bahgain!" he said) and had most of the second meal in the car. He fetched it, and Grandma happily dug in.
Notice the fry sauce on the table (a Utah thing), the bib from Zina and Bernice, and the Whopper in her lap.
We ate the fries together. When I left she was still doing great and hadn't touched the burger.
Grandpa and I chatted. After dropping Elizabeth off at the airport, he went home by way of Rick and Earlene (Did I get those wrong?). He caught them on the way to a funeral. Rick was all dressed up but had some chemo things with him; he's fighting cancer.
I told Grandpa that I'll be working at an all-state high school track meet from 5:40 AM 'till noon tomorrow, and this reminded him of something from his past.
When he was 16, he won the all-state 100m AND 220m relay races! He still remembers his teammates' names. The school got trophies with the students' names on it, so Grandpa's younger siblings saw them all through their high school career. Grandpa was astonished to realize that that was sixty-nine years ago! "I remember that better than I remember yesterday!" he remarked. Grandma asked about the 69 years, and when he asked her to do some mental math she did it, no sweat. We figured out it was in 1944.
A few minutes later, I used a pencil and noticed it needed sharpening. I asked if there were a pencil sharpener there. "No," he said, but he had a knife, and could try whittling.
Ta-da!
Not bad!
Since Grandma was talking pretty well, we decided to try calling my mom so they could chat. We didn't reach her while I was there, but after I left she called back and they were able to talk!
It's Rick and Ellarene. You were close.
ReplyDeleteEliza, I SO LOVE this blog and the TLC you show me and my mom by visiting her and then writing about it.
Grandma told me that she had had lunch with the Hintzes, her former neighbors, and I told her about seeing robin eggs over at their house when I was very small. That reminded Grandma of her Grandpa Howe, who kept pigeons and other birds in his backyard in SLC.