Cheering up Gram

On Friday night, my 98 year old grandma fell while walking into her house. She is sore, bruised and banged up, but otherwise okay. She likes to be independent. She still lives in her big home and vows she isn’t leaving there. Her caretaker was with her, but being her “independent, stubborn self,” she did not want to wait the extra few minutes it was taking GiGi to get all of their things together before heading up the stairs. She tried going more quickly than she should have and missed the bottom step, landing hard on her knees.

Gigi called my brother to come up to help, but he wasn’t around so Dave and our cousin Jason went up to see if she was alright and if they could help. By the time they got there, she was up and sitting in her special chair elevator riding up the basement stairs. It is so typical of our strong willed grandma. She hates feeling old and complains about not being able to move swiftly and doesn’t understand why everything aches. We joke and tell her it is because she is nearly 100!!! Her bones are old, her body is tired and we let her know that it is okay!

Yesterday, she wouldn’t leave her house saying that she was too sore. Today, she still didn’t want to go out so we decided that we’d all go and bring dinner to her. So, this evening 17 of us went to her house and brought her one of her favorite foods – fried chicken. She was quite cranky when we first got there, but we made her get up out of her chair and join us at the table for dinner. After a few bites she was back to her old self and laughing along with everyone else.

It was just a few hours, but it was good for her spirits. It was good for all of our spirits. She’ll be back to her old self again soon. We just had to show her that there was a reason get up and move about. I know she was feeling better as we all left tonight. Hopefully tomorrow she’ll be up and about even more and back to her normal routine.

Tagged: family dinner, feeling old, getting old, live life and forget your age