Grandma B.

Two weeks ago my grandma woke up one morning and couldn't get out of bed. She used her medic-alert necklace and they were able to contact her brother, who came and helped her get out of bed. She then spent the next 4 days in the hospital. Nothing too serious was wrong. She was dehydrated, but mainly it's just the aging process. It was decided that she shouldn't be left alone. My parents spent the next few days cleaning out a room, making a place for Grandma.

This past weekend, my parents drove to Utah to pick up my Grandma to move her down here. My grandma has lived alone for 9 years, and has taken care of herself. Now she's not able to do it alone anymore. My grandma's things were packed up (at least what would fit in a minivan). It's hard to think of her 80+ years of life being condensed into so little. At my parents' house, I went into her room and took pictures of the things that were important enough for her to bring. One thing I didn't take a picture of was a chair she brought. It is a chair my grandpa would sit in every evening, eventually falling asleep in. Since then, it has become her chair.

We went and visited her today. The visit didn't last for too long because my kids are way too wild to be around someone who has not had little ones around for long time periods. Grandma looks good. She's walking with a walker now - when I visited in July, she wasn't. I noticed her hair was different. She's been coloring it for years, usually it would end up a light brown color, once I saw it purple (oops). It is now snow white, which is beautiful. As long as I can remember, she would wake up early (5:30 or so) to set her hair in rollers. She has stopped doing it, but she really doesn't need to. She has lovely natural curls.

I'm glad that she's here now and that my kids can build friendships with her. I get to grandma-sit on Wednesday. That will be fun, visiting with Grandma, kid-free.

This is the flag from my Grandpa's coffin

This is a quilt made of my Grandpa's shirts

This is a porcelain doll (my grandma loves them) that Grandma would keep on her bed

Side note: Two summers ago, while visting my grandma, Logan asked me to take him to the bathroom. I asked him why he couldn't go alone. His response was, "No. Me see baby." From the bathoom doorway, he could see into my grandma's room and see this doll sitting on her bed. He would not go anywhere alone where he could see this doll. While he was in the bathroom, I snuck in and took the doll off the bed. I placed it just outside the bathroom, so Logan would see it as he came out of the bathroom. I have never seen a kid walk so close to a wall as he did.