The Turkey Blues

Hello my friends!

We went to Va for Thanksgiving because my other grandmother is not doing very well now. Remember I lost my Grandmother Hudgins at 98 this past February. Grandmother Hammond is now 94 and as she so plainly put it during our most recent visit...."Old age is catch'in me!"

Grandmother had a very bad case of shingles a couple months ago from which she is still having residual pain and eyesight loss. Her short term memory has also gotten so bad that she can no longer follow her books on tape which were her only remaining form of amusement. Her quality of life consist of sitting in her chair or the bed all day with her eyes closed. She seems to enjoy a little conversation and sometimes wants to be read the paper. She has little desire for food, is skin and bones, although, I found that I could feed her quite well because she would forget what she had eaten....so she got two of every meal when I was around. My Dad has hire help to stay with her a majority of the time. She is so proud that it is humiliating for her to have my family helping her. She cried when my step mom had to take her to the bathroom. My Dad has never been able to sit around for too long, he is constantly moving from project to project, inside to out. Well, he sat with my Grandmother the day that we arrived from 8:00am until 3:30pm and he said that it was the longest he had ever been inside in his entire life!

Grandmother has had many lives...a painter, sculptor, teacher, crafter, first female treasurer of Mathews County, Va., and solo world traveler, just to name a few. She lives on a small creek called "Put-in Creek" where I collected so many fond childhood memories of being on the water. When my Grandfather died about 15 years ago, my Dad built a weekend house next to my Grandmother which we stay in when we visit. We were married on her dock. Our life in Va. so deeply entwined with hers will make the waiting, untangling, separation & loss very, very difficult. I don't know what to wish for.