Recently my maternal grandmother had to move into a nursing home where they could provide her with the greater care that she needed. My Grandma has increasing dementia. She knows who we are and calls us by name, but her memory is failing her.
When my parents cleaned out her room at her retirement residence, they found a lot of photo albums from her travels. Among the albums were several books devoted to her grandchildren. Since my Mom is an only child, there were lots of family shots from throughout our childhood.
My parents have decorated her new room with photos of her family and paintings she had done a long time ago. These images help to trigger her memory. We bring her scrapbooks filled with pictures of familiar faces, for her to look at.
Grandma always came down on days I had off from school. We would go out for lunch and sometimes see a movie in the afternoon. She doesn’t remember most of this, but that is okay because I do. I remember going to a drugstore to buy our candy to eat at the show. I got fuzzy peach candy and was thrilled.
I remember staying over at my Grandma’s house and watching late night talk shows on her small television in her bedroom. She snored, but that didn’t bother me at all.
My Grandma travelled quite a bit with one of her friends. She was always home for Christmas, but shortly after that, she would be off to someplace warmer. She saw many parts of the world and made a lot of friends from all over the world.
When she came back from a trip, she always had gifts for us. She didn’t have to do so, but she wanted to do so. You could tell she enjoyed shopping for us. When I was smaller, there would usually be a doll from Portugal. She went back to Portugal many times. I loved the purses she would buy for my Mom & I.
My Grandma does not remember things that happened a long time ago any more. She held on to her older memories long than her recent memories. Oddly enough her sense of humour remains intact. She laughs at the appropriate time and she understands subtle humour.
I am happy to have had so many special times with my Grandma and will continue to share time together. She will be ninety at the end of February.
LOVE...
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