Aging, but no longer gracefully
KLK's far-and-away family favorites have always been his maternal Grandpa (who died in 1992) and his Grandma, alive but suffering the indignities of nursing home life. Grandma, now 94, has handicapping memory problems in addition to her physical frailties. Although she recognizes KLK as the one who loves and cares for her, I'm not sure she could pinpoint their exact relationship. Yes, I said the ONE because her youngest daughter, KLK's mother, died in 2002, and her oldest daughter, his aunt, is perfectly happy to hand her nephew full responsibility for her mother. To abuse Tolstoy a little, "all families are dysfunctional in their own way."
All of that aside, KLK at last finished the overwhelming tasks of emptying the big house Grandma and Grandpa shared and raised their daughters in since the early 1950's, and getting it sold (nicely enough, to someone who benefited from the first-time buyer's tax credit).
But he brought home a few things of real value, premier among them photographs dating back to about 1920; I'm busily scanning them to assure preservation of the very precious memories.
I have been so very touched by how beautiful and visibly happy Grandma (and her husband and daughters) once were, and how life takes all that, and everything else, away so cruelly at the end.
Oh, Veronica. Some lives are too short, others are too long. We must all go thu' it someway.
ReplyDelete"The other day, my minister came and told me, at my age I should be thinking about the hereafter. I told him I think about it all the time. Whether I am upstairs or downstairs, I always ask myself, "What am I here after?"
Thank goodness for photos to show us what we were like when we were young.
94 is a grand old age, but sad when there is suffering and family disharmony.
ReplyDeleteThe photographs are so very precious.