On Wednesday I took the kids to Waco to visit my grandmother Dulce and my great aunt Sudie. The people in the last decades of their life were amazed by the little people in the first decade of their lives, and vice versa.
Sudie was amazed by how much Colin could eat. A few hours after eating a large, Southern lunch in the dining room, Colin was hungry again (Grandma gave him peanut butter and crackers). I reminded Sudie that about an hour before lunch he also ate a huge bowl of sliced fruit that I'd brought him. "I would hate to have to feed someone every two hours!" she exclaimed. "Can you imagine, my mother had to feed 8 of us?"
Colin and Anna also had to go run around on the lawn after an hour of visiting, even though it was 102 outside. "What are they doing out there?" Sudie asked. "Where do they get that energy?"
Colin loved playing with the resident pool table. Anna wore her beautiful blue ballet recital costume to lunch as she did last year, and brightened many peoples' day. They both played some simple songs on the piano. You could not even see them behind the big grand.
Colin asked me, "What do old people like to do?" I told him they play bridge, and bingo, and Wii bowling (that would be my grandma). Grandma leaned over and said, "What are ya'll talking about?" I told her Colin wanted to know what people liked to do here, and she said, "People here like to SLEEP!"
"Oh, that would be my fault," Sudie said sorrowfully. She is frail, and drops off at any moment, any lapse in the conversation. Her body and her mind have atrophied, but her sweet personality still makes contact.
My grandmother, always a powerful personality, is struggling with the loss of her vision and the decline of her sister. Yet she speaks rapid Spanish to most of the staff, and still can boss all of us around.
We had a great visit, and I'm sure they were exhausted from just watching and listening to us as we briefly burst into their lives. "Come back, come back, come back," Sudie said. If it were up to Colin, we'd be there again Saturday, for the ice cream social!
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7 comments:
hahaha you make that sound such a lovely visit,Jennifer. :) x
A.Norma.
It was a REALLY fun visit.
--anna xxx
I'm glad the eldest and youngest generations enjoyed each other! It's nice that you were able to get up there and visit with them.
I am so glad you went. Nana is there today and Li'l Bev visited last week.
I'm glad you went. It's almost triple the drive for me and I am getting the nudge nudge to do the same. It is hard to say no when you know the elders are waning and you want them and the wee ones to know eachother.
Sounds wonderful. I miss getting to visit with my grandparents now that we are so far away. Talking with them on the phone just isn't the same.
During my visit with "The Ladies" they talked about your visit a lot - they really enjoyed it! Sudie was amazed at the food consumption. My Mother's main comment was, "it is so nice being around young children." Since all her grandchildren are now grown, she really misses little ones. Thank you for taking them - Mom said they are welcome any time.
Love you, M
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