the end to an era [Archive] - Zophar's Message Domain

SwampGas

11-25-2003, 02:11 AM

tomorrow we take my grandmother to an assisted living place. grandfather is in the hospital for congestive heart problems and some other crap.

i've looked up to these people as far back as i can remember. i wanted to be just like them. out of ANY activity i'd always want to come here. i liked staying here. so much stuff over the years...the big thing would be the tractor. since they have a large yard, i would sit on my grandfather's lap as he rode the tractor....and when i got old enough i continued to cut the grass with it by myself. i'd make a fire in their big fireplace. i'd stay over for a week every summer and we'd always go to the bucks county play house.

good times in this house. great times.

we honestly don't think they'll ever be back. grandmother can't function at all....she needs help constantly because she can't walk. my grandfather's heart is damaged so he can barely walk, let alone take care of a house.

i'm going to take the tractor out tomorrow and sweep up the leaves all over the yard and then cut the grass. probably for the last time. ever.

it's over now. morituri te salutant. <img src=smilies/cry.gif>

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JCJones86

11-25-2003, 02:33 AM

Sorry to hear that, Swamp. I know how it is watching the elderly get less functional.

A few years ago I watched what I called my "second father" degrade until he died. A week before he left us he was taking nearly 20 different prescriptions a day. I really looked up to him, because he worked his ass off in our Navy... I say "our Navy," because he was originally from the Philippines. Eventually he became a citizen, I believe. After a divorce, he was alone with his two children who he raised as best as he could. I looked up to him for supporting himself and his children throughout the last 20 years of his life. It's hard to come across another guy as dedicated as he was.

It really makes you appreciate the values, morals, and work ethics of our elderly, because it isn't coming back... As sobering as that sounds...

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Fla Flash

11-25-2003, 03:23 AM

Sorry dude.
My grandmother was put in one this past spring. I will never be.
Memories are so key to our everyday lives, don't lose them. They alone can make you smile, cry and remember better times.
I know I keep mine.
Sorry to hear this, man.

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SpaceTiger

11-25-2003, 06:14 AM

> Sorry dude. My grandmother was put in one this past spring.

*Does the math*

<img src=smilies/eek5.gif>

That must be one tough old lady.

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SpaceTiger

11-25-2003, 06:15 AM

Sorry to hear that. Makes me wish I was closer to my grandparents. <img src=smilies/cwm10.gif>

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Fla Flash

11-25-2003, 09:46 AM

She's 102. Her mom made it to 105.
Except for the problem with her grasp on reality, so to speak, she's as healthy as a horse.

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World_Demise

11-25-2003, 01:41 PM

> She's 102. Her mom made it to 105.
Except for the problem
> with her grasp on reality, so to speak, she's as healthy as
> a horse.
>

They sure don't make 'em like they used to, I guess.

i need a friend, please be my companion
i don't want to be left alone with my sanity

Paladyn

11-25-2003, 05:27 PM

> tomorrow we take my grandmother to an assisted living place.
> grandfather is in the hospital for congestive heart
> problems and some other crap.

Sorry to hear that. Pretty soon, it's going to get that way with my grandmother too. Aging sucks.

Of all the words of thought or pen, the saddest are these: "what might have been".

Isildur

11-25-2003, 08:15 PM

That sounds like my grandparents, a few years ago. I know it's hard to see this happening to them (and it seems unfair that after all they've already endured during their lives, it winds down like this), but treasure every moment you can still spend with them.

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SwampGas

11-25-2003, 10:37 PM

i'm home now. as i stood in the house before i left, i realized that my grandparents would never set foot in it again.

my grandfather was taken to another hospital for his surgery thingy and will probably return to the original hospital soon.

when my ex's grandmother died, i didn't say anything to her...didn't do anything except sit around with her or keep her company while she bawled her eyes out on my bed. the ONLY thing i enjoyed doing with the family--visiting my grandparents' house--is no longer an option one is about 5 minutes from death and the other has a disease that will slowly kill her...so i have to watch her lose control, go insane, etc. i could sure use what i did for the ex right about now. <img src=smilies/cwm10.gif>

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Fla Flash

11-26-2003, 01:46 AM

Dude.
This stuff happens.
I know its's hard to take, but move on. Don't let it consume you. This is the way life goes....very slowly, very painfully (most times to those around us that love us)...I'm sorry, but those memories, as long as you hold them dear, will make them both live in your heart forever.

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Don't piss off the little yellow rat...... (http://www.elazulspad.com/flashy)

StormsInHerEyes

11-28-2003, 02:33 AM

I think about that a lot with my grandparents.. Watching them get older.. wondering when it's going to be that they can't take care of themselves.. they the house with so many memories will just fade into exactly that.. a memory.. That's mainly why I can't stand having birthdays.. I dont want to move foreward in time.. I dont want to have to say goodbye.. I'm too much of a coward to face those things, that I'll do anything I can to keep away.. even if it means denying the world itself..

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