The bad part about taking so much time off from writing my blog is that I have lost most of the accounts of events from summer and the first two months of school. There really is no good time to catch up on this but maybe I will be able to along the way.

I came back from Alabama this summer on August 5th to celebrate my Grandmother’s 85th birthday. It was the first time that entire side of the family has been together since her 76th nine years ago. None of us have really changed so much besides the whole getting older part. Its funny how I’ve started to relate to Aunts and Uncles in different ways now than what I did as a child.

  My grandmother is really special. She joined the army as an RN when she was a few years younger than I am now. She and my grandfather met at some little army party in Nancy,France during WWII soon before he would be leaving back for the states. He was from Mississippi….and she was from Maryland. And even though they had only known each other for about a month, my grandfather proposed and she said yes! My grandma always says that she knew if she said no that she would never see him again…..So anyhow my grandmother was sent back to the states a few months later and when Christmas rolled around my grandfather surprised her by showing up in Maryland ready to be married. January 1st was the date…..and the rest of the story I guess is up to my cousins and me. 

So I went to visit my grandmother just this Sunday. I only was able to spend a few hours but I’m so glad I did. I really love just listening to her talk about things. On her relationship with my grandfather she says ” To think of how little we knew each other..and how we came to meet…and then how it all came out to 42 years of marriage…there had to be a little bit of fate involved in that” I guess its fun to think of what is “meant” to be. But when I look at her marriage I see a lot of work going into a promise that she refused to ever let go of.

 My grandmother is pretty weak right now. She isn’t sure why but she just doesn’t want to do anything at all she said. She talked about how difficult it was for her to actually not be able to do things that she was so used to doing. She is so completely an independent person. I guess the fact that she would join the army would testify to that. Plus she’s lived without my grandfather since I was 2.  She has the best spirit still thought. Even though its hard for her to not be able to do things she says “but I guess I spent most of my life doing those types of things for other people” . Which is true since she was a nurse and all.

I’m not sure she has every asked me really to do anything for her. But sunday she needed me to do her nails. As much as I enjoyed helping her, part of me hated that she actually needed my help to do this. I think I have a lot of her independence in me, and I’m sure it is hard for her to even have to ask for such things. She refuses to say she is depressed though- because as she always says “I’ve had what I think to be a good full life. Fuller than a lot of people. And when its my day its my day” I hope I have such a strong spirit when I am 85.

 Last night mom called and said they had to put my grandma in the hospital. I guess I’m glad she was getting some medical attention but of course I get pretty worried over this. I was really relieved when dad called me a few minutes ago to tell me what exactly is going on and it looks as though with the help of some medicine she will be able to get back to wanting to eat and work crosswords again. I need to take a visit to see her tomorrow or the next day. Its hard to believe that I let my schedule get so tight that I its hard to find time for such a visit. I am a bit ashamed that even now as I think of my schedule there is not really a spare block of time to go to the hospital. I guess that really isn’t something to get into at the moment, but probably something I will keep thinking about.