Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Grama shopping spree

Brad and I have been having a pretty low key couple of weeks other then youth group stuff. We had a chili cooking day with the HS kids for them to sell as a fundraiser before the Superbowl. They are raising funds to go to the National Cathedral in D.C. Brad is very excited to go because he has never been to the capitol. I'm excited for him to get to go also. I've been multiple times as my aunt and uncle live very close.

On to the headline topic. We've been running all around to get my 99 year old grama things that will better her life. She has to spend some money on herself or turn it over to the government. It's part of going on public assistance. So in the last few days she has gotten a new Lazy Boy lift chair, $650 worth of new clothes, a new floor lamp, and a Temprapedic pillow. She has other things ordered that have not come yet, such as a new 40 inch TV and stand for it to sit on, and a new wheelchair. I think that if she lives to figure out how to work all of her new things, they really will improve her quality of life. She gets so confused by new things though that right now the new things to make her life better are making it worse because she is confused and a little bit scared by/of them.

I don't want to live to be 100 years old. I don't think God made our bodies to last that long. Everyone who you grew up with is dead or in the same position that you are. Your family can't make you a priority and so you spend a lot of time alone unless you actively make friends in the building you live in. Your body falls apart and you can tell your mind isn't quite as sharp. And the importance you once gave to things like sex switch over to your daily BM. Who wants to focus that much on poop?

I know that she has experienced and been a part of soooooo many things. She's seen phones and TVs and cars become. First as a luxury and then as a necessity. She's seen radio's go from one person on the block having one to most people having one for every room. She remembers when wages were so low we couldn't even buy groceries for what they were paid. But then, in her life she's also seen refrigerators come into peoples homes so that they even can keep perishables in their houses. The things she has experienced in her life are amazing and humbling, but to feel the way she does now and to fret and worry and dispare..... I don't want that.

Ah, to leave on such a positive note. :)

1 comment:

Christine said...

I should have my grandma meet your grandma. My grandma just turned 89.