She was born on the first anniversary of the Wright brother’s flight at Kitty Hawk, just to show how much has changed in the world since then.
I love her more than myself. I was the oldest granchild, and that made me feel special. She’s the last of her generation in my family, the oldest person in her nursing home, the oldest member of her church, and so on.
Her hearing and eyesight aren’t so great, and she can’t walk too well, but she’s still mentally OK, and her bottom teeth are her own. She had to go to the dentist a couple of years ago, and they treated her like a queen, telling the family they’d never treated anyone of that age.
My most treasured possession is the candy dish she had in her home. It’s one of my earliest memories, trying to sneak candy out of it while we grandchildren would be at her house.
I visited my father’s oldest surviving sister today. She doesn’t remember anything that happens now for more than a few minutes, and fortunately didn’t inquire about her daughter, who died this last summer. She remembered my name and asked me how old I was and how old she was. I told her I am 47 and that she is 50 years older than me. “So I’m 97?” Right. She’ has finally managed to mellow since here short term memory is shot, and she is happier now than she has ever been in her life.
Happy Birthday and felicitations to Grandma Baker!
If you haven’t already, do get her to tell you the stories of “the olden days” and get them on tape! You’ve probably heard her stories many times and you believe you know them by heart, but having them on tape would be really special for your kids and grandkids down the road.
Wow. My maternal grandma is 89 and doing okay – not great, but for a woman of her age, definitely okay. And her MIL lived to be 102. Like your grandma, her eyes and ears were pretty shot, and physically she got very frail, but she was mentally there pretty much until the end.
My mother’s father and my father’s mother are still great at 86 years old. I talk to them all the time and converse just like I always did. My grandfather still owns his own real estate brokerage firm and flies to Las Vegas to gamble 5 times a year or so among other places and still drives and mows his own yard. If you didn’t know, you couldn’t tell he he is above his mid-fifties when you talk to him on the phone.
Happy birthday to Grandma Baker! My only remaining grandma turns 95 next month and she’s still going strong; I’m hoping she’ll make it to the century mark just 'cos (but only if she’s still hale and hearty).
