Well, I’m not in the cheeriest mood ever, thanks to this. This sunday, my great-grandmother (mother’s father’s mother) died in her sleep. She was 98 years old, quite lucid, but had a hard time communicating and moving, so it was always sad to visit her; we did, of course, but I feel guilty now for feeling kind of relieved that we won’t have to go there any more. It was a very small funeral, since all her friends are dead, and that side of the family isn’t too big either.
I remember, when my great-grandfather was alive (he died in '91 I think, on his 93rd birthday), we would visit them in their house. Great-Grandma always gave my sister and me root beer in metal cups, and usually had candied orange slices around for us to munch. I don’t have as many memories of Great-Grandpa, but they are the only two great-grandparents I remember; all four sets of them met me as a baby, but died before I can remember. He developed Alzheimer’s (or however-the-heck it’s spelled), and talked about picking strawberries and seeing beautiful flowers, so at least he seemed happy. I think she was too.
She’s been getting harder and harder of hearing, slurring her words more, and had a hard time moving. She went around in a wheelchair, but usually didn’t want to be pushed; rather, she used her feet to walk herself around. My grabdmother (her daughter-in-law, my grandfather died a couple years ago) suspected she may have had a small stroke, when she visited on friday. She has had a couple before, and on friday she couldn’t speak at all, and barely understood a word. She made writing motions, so Grandma got her a paper and pencil, but what she wrote was unintelligible. Of couse, she probably hasn’t written much in the last several years, but she filled her time with talking instead.
On my next-to-last visit with her, I was sitting by her wheelchair in the dining room, since she was waiting for lunchtime. She looked at me, and suddenly asked “When did Doug die?” Doug, my mother’s brother, died in '74 I think. Apparently she saw a lot of him in me (I was born in '83, so I never knew him). She knew what all of us were doing, kept up with current events, and was a grreat woman.
I’ll miss her, but I hope she’s gone on to a better place.
And by the way, Merry Christmas