So - I write them - to remember.
Today I went to my grandparents at lunch as I sometimes do. Papa is still on hospice care and gramma has almost totally lost her hearing. I try to go on a Tue or Thur since that's when my mom is there so I can see her too. Sometimes Shane too will pop by as he did today. Our weekday caregiver for Papa is this wonderful man named Noelle. He's so loving and wonderful and takes great care of my Papa. My lunches there usually consist of mom running around and me shouting at gramma so she can hear and trying to make sense of my Papa's jumbles.
The past few months Papa's mind has gotten a lot worse. He does usually seem to know who I am but he doesn't make much sense anymore and is usually rambling about things he's seeing or sometimes complete nonsense. I used to try to follow his thoughts and talk with him but it's all for not. He doesn't know.
Today was a good day.
Mom had an appt. and was going to pick us up lunch on the way back. She forgot her cellphone so there was a lot of wondering if we were going to eat or not because I have to take my lunch at a certain time. I arrived, starving, to find Noelle standing next to my Papa's bed with a stick and a claw like thing at the end. He was laughing and waving it above Papa.
"What the hell?!" I said walking in the door. Noelle turned laughing and explained to me in his broken and sporatic laughs that he dropped his glasses in the neighbors yard while he was trying to pick oranges and he created this contraption to retrieve them. He then picked up his glasses and proudly shouted "It worked!!".
I died laughing.
Papa looked over when he heard my laughter and reached for me.
I walked up to his bedside and took his hand. I could tell he was with me and I said "Hi Papa!"
"Hi honey! I love you so much!"
"I love you too Papa!" I said smiling.
"You just get prettier every day." he said.
"Well thank you."
"Where were you?" he asked.
"I came from work. I work at Chapman, remember? Summer is coming to an end and all the kids are coming back already" I said.
"Wow, time does fly" he said.
I was excited because this was unusual to have a normal conversation. He squeezed my hand and I said "It's August already! Can you believe it?"
"No." He then started saying something about painting.
"We painted this weekend." I said "We painted some stuff for mom's kid party. We made a pirate ship with a wheel and a flag and Shane built some bean bag toss games"
"I wish I could have been there to help you" Papa said. He truly always loved to paint and build.
"Me too Papa, me too." I said trying to hide the sadness in my voice.
He then turned his head to look outside and when he turned back to me he was gone. The rambling started.
But those few moments we perfect. I had Papa for a minute and it was wonderful.
When Shane came in holding this stupid owl statue my gramma had wanted back (She loaned to Shane) we both snuck around the corner and appeared in her den with just the owl, hooting. Noelle was laughing and trying to explain to Papa what we were doing. It was like we were kids again. Grandma jumped then laughed.
Mom came in with lunch. We all cheered.
Grandma gave me the clipping about Chapman she had cut out of the paper. She always does.
Shane and I joked back and forth about indie films and I smacked him on the cheek saying he's all grown up and gramma just laughed and laughed. Everyone was in a good mood. Everyone was smiling. I pretty much inhaled my lunch and headed out.
But that was a good day. A day of a happy family. A day of laughter. Another moment to cherish.
Below is one of my favorite pictures I ever took of my grandparents when they were doing much better. This was probably about 3 or 4 years ago.
Cherish those moments.
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