My grandma turned 90! this year! Which is pretty amazing.
Growing up I was lucky enough to live only 30 minutes from each set of grandparents. This grandma (Anne), my dad's mom is my only grandparent still living, and has been since 1996. 5 years ago my dad and aunt realized that my grandma needed help, she was becoming unable to live by herself any longer.
My grandma has Dementia. Which is very sad, frustrating and confusing. It can also be entertaining. My sister and I usually visit her together these days because she now lives over an hour away. My grandma usually remembers me, sometimes my name prompt helps. She often calls my sister by the wrong name, which hurts. We usually take her to 2nd breakfast (she eats at her assisted living place really early) and then sometimes we walk around Target-and she tells us every time that she has never seen a red shopping cart before. When it is time to go she always hugs me and says, " I love you very much" which I usually feel pretty good about.
Years ago my grandma used to tell some of the same stories over and over again. My favorite was about the first time she had flank steak. The butcher gave her a piece to take home and try and told her how to cut it and marinate it. I loved this story because I love flank steak and I like to think this is where my dad learned to cut the diamonds into the flank steak. I have not heard this story in a few years.
My current favorite story is about when she was growing up in the valley. Her house backed up to the wash. It was the time of the Great Depression and food was scarce. Her family had chickens in the backyard and "tramps" would come up from the wash and try to steal eggs. They would leave the dog outside to scare the tramps away. Tramps. Gets me every time.
I also find it entertaining to watch her steal sugar packets.
At Mother's Day lunch she was opening packages of sugar under the table and quickly shooting them into her mouth.
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