On August 4th I took all three of my children to visit my grandparents. They rode in a wagon up and down the halls and sang songs and quoted Bible verses and showed off very well...:0) That was the day I got my sanity back and I'll never forget it.
But today, I went to my grandparent's nursing home without my children. I had never been there without them and my grandmother has early stages of Alzheimer's. I was terrified she would ask for the children over and over again.
I got there and my grandparents were happy to see me, and they showed me things that I had seen a hundred times before, in this condo and in their home. We went through all the pictures on my iPhone-thank goodness I snap all kinds of pictures on that thing. They saw dance recitals and soccer camps. They saw all the snap shots of the Christmas pageant and the videos of every time Frances sang in the choir. They saw the Halloween costumes and still don't believe that the Gozzi Turkey farm turkeys exist.
My grandparents took me to their dining room-very much like a country club, and I was able to eat a wonderful lunch. I didn't have to worry about my three children not minding their manners or running down hallways or bumping into people on walkers. My grandfather is hell on wheels on his scooter-it reminded me of racing him on the shore of Emerald Isle when I was five.
This might be the very last "Christmas Present" that I get with my grandparents. I was where I needed to be. I needed to have an uninterrupted conversation with both of them. This Christmas was a gift and I will embrace it. I could talk freely without worrying about my children stepping on an oxygen tank tube or throwing a baseball out the front window.
They may be here this summer to race my children down the hallways and if they are I will praise God and the universe for that gift for my babies.
Today, I had a small gift of time with my grandparents, just for me.
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