We spent the weekend in St. Louis. I just got home via Southwest Airlines, Mary and Brad are driving back tomorrow. They are spending another day with my family, my sister and nephew from Ohio. We only get to see them once a year for a week, almost always in St. Louis. This year I had to cut it short since I’m taking two weeks starting next Sunday.
The time flies whenever we go to St. Louis, but I always seem to get a lot accomplished. My two brothers, Dad and I played golf on Saturday. Mary, Brad and I stopped in to see my uncle and aunt on our way in Friday night, they live about an hour outside of St. Louis. I took my sister disc golfing Sunday morning (I didn’t keep score, just played 6 holes to show her what it’s all about). I helped my dad with computer and thermostat problems and fixed a nasty Windows XP issue my brother and sister in law were having.
We visited my grandmother. She’s 100 and was doing great until recently. She has osteoporosis really bad and is on a lot of pain medication. They changed her dose and now she is starting to show signs of dementia. It was very sad. At one point she pointed to my blue FLHW bracelet and asked “What’s that for?”, I replied “To raise awareness about Prostate cancer”. Her response was a punch in the gut if there ever was one, “Oh, David’s going to die.” She immediately turned to my sister and asked about a box of Kleenex or something else totally unrelated, but for me the words hung in the room like a foul odor.
This woman is a saint. To see her like this, at what is likely nearing the end of a wonderful life, is heartbreaking. Two stories about her; first, as a teenager she took a steamship to Egypt with a friend and the friend's parents and was able to visit King Tut’s tomb! Second there is a very funny story from around the time she was ten; a girlfriend and her snuck into the neighborhood Catholic Church one day and put a kitten into the baptismal font. She is a wonderful, wonderful woman. I prayed on my flight home that God spare her anymore pain, if ever there was someone who deserves to be spared, it is her.
I have to run now - I have to get my thoughts together for the big television appearance tomorrow night. I’m going to tape it. At some point I'll figure out how to get it from tape onto the internet for those of you who are not in KC.
2 comments:
I understand what you are going through with your grandma: My great-grandma is 101, and she is in about the same condition. It is a tough situation, I know.
I lost my great-grandmother years ago. She lived to be 106 and the last few years were not enjoyable. However, I vividly remember all of the incredible conversations we had about her life - the unbelievable changes and advances (good and bad) that her generation experienced. Cars, tvs, radios, airplanes, space exploration, depressions, wars, etc.
Remember all of the wonderful things about your grandma and how much you enjoyed spending time with her growing up. Forget MasterCard - Memories like that are priceless
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