Wow, is this really the first blog of 2010? Yeesh.
If you are expecting my normal wit and witticism here, you may want to rethink that plan. This entry is going to take a bit of a more serious tone. Sorry about that in advance, but sometimes, you just gotta blog stuff.
As some of you know, it's been a rough 12 months for my grandparents. They have both been in a health decline, and a couple of weeks ago, my grandmother had a stroke shortly after her 80th birthday. She's doing much better now, and for the most part, I've been pretty even keeled about the whole thing. They celebrate their 60TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY in August, and there will be a family gathering. If all goes along with the plan, it will be the first time that all of the grandchildren are in the same room since Christmas of 1995. I look forward to seeing all of my cousins (two of which I have not seen since said Christmas, one of whom I caught coming through the airport, pre 9/11 of course, and the fourth one came down for a visit a couple of summers ago), and my aunts and uncles, and of course, my Grandma and Grandpa, whom I have not seen since Jenn and I got married almost 7 years ago. Hold on a sec, I have to let that last part set in....
OK, I'm good. It's amazing how time flies when you get to spend it with someone whom you not only love, but truly gets you. Love you, honey! (OK, you get a little bit of wit and witticism. We ARE talking about me, here.)
Anyway, I get an e-mail from my mom today updating me on what is going on. She is in Tampa with them for a few days, helping out. My uncle Putt (his real name is Robert, but I have another Uncle Robert, and Putt is short for his last name... stay with me here) has been the only family that is still local to them, and has been doing an amazing job keeping things together, and my mom and Aunt Linda are also trying to get down there to help when they can, so I don't worry a heck of a lot about Grandma & Grandpa.
So, Mom sends me an e-mail today saying that they have officially been moved into a retirement home after my grandmother successfully went through rehab after her stroke. And THAT, is what has turned me into an emotional wreck. I'm not exactly sure why, because they are both together, and they are being well taken care of (again, I have the BEST family in the world), but it just seemed to be the last piece of bubble gum that fell out of the crack that was in the dam.
For some reason, I guess I just see this as some sort of strange finality to it all. 20 years ago next month, I went up there with Mom to help clean out a fabricated home that they were moving into. That one was tough on me because they were moving out of the house that I knew as theirs for my ENTIRE life (it even had their last initial on the chimney outside). Christmases, vacations, Easters.. at least once a month growing up, I remembered getting in the car with Mom and making the five-hour drive from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa to see them. It meant the world to me to see them and all of my cousins (everybody else was local to them at that point), and to not come down that declined street that was a stones' throw from Mom's high school just seemed... alien.
As time went on, I came to get used to the retirement village that the lived in. The few times that I got to visit them there, I enjoyed sitting on the back porch and just enjoying the view of the private lake that backed up to their property. A couple of times, we took a trip out on said lake in the pontoon boat that they owned, and others, we would just watch the animals at the ranch up the street that was allegedly owned by the family that ran Papa's, the greatest Greek restaurant on the PLANET in Tarpon Springs (now gone, sadly). But, they were always there. Grandma, always ready to make a great meal, and giving Grandpa grief. Grandpa always taking her grief with a smile. I always think of the time when Grandma gave him grief about walking the dog in just his socks, and no shoes. His solution? He bought shoes with grey bottoms on them so she wouldn't see how dirty the socks were; therefore, she'd never think he was just wearing socks. I think about the "kitchen band" that they led of people in their community. I've even got a newspaper clipping in my office from a piece the local paper did on them.
I know that they are still with us on this mortal coil, but now, the house I got used to being theirs isn't theirs anymore. I haven't ever lost a family member less than three generations out (my great grandfather passed when I was a senior in high school, and although that hurt, this is worse for me), so I guess that plays a part in this too. And. like I said earlier, I've been pretty even-keeled about this up until now, but for some reason, this part of the process has hit me like a ton of bricks. I guess it's just the totality of it finally breaking free.
I'm glad that Grandma and Grandpa are getting the care they deserve, and I'm also glad that there is a certain weight that can be lightened a bit off of their children. My family is truly blessed, and I look forward to seeing everyone in August and celebrating a love that has lasted over six full decades that has produced a group of people that I have the highest level of pride to call "my kin". I guess I just got to my fill of emotions and this helped me purge some of it.
It's like Mom said to me when she was here a couple of weeks ago for a visit: "I just need a good cry, and it won't come." I get it now, Ma. I totally get it.
Thanks for listening to me, dear reader. Until next time...
BB
No comments:
Post a Comment