grandma

Grandma By Eva S.  All grandmothers are warm and adoring, Always cherishing their grandchildren with loving words. But not every grandma can be that person Hugging you and kissing you because you are the center of their lives. Some grandmas are sick or live far away, And are only able to comfort you on occasional visits, Or when they call just to say “I love you”. Grandmothers are mostly old frail ladies, Very much exposed to the ailments of the world. Once your grandma is sick, It mostly only gets worse, I should know. My Grandma Judy was a very respectable lady, She dedicated her life to others, And never knew a stranger. But that all changed when she got sick, First it was just arthritis, making it hard to walk, But then it got worse. She started forgetting- Alzheimer’s it’s called, And her leg got worse, And she couldn’t stand up or else she would fall. We hired Cormie who had taken care of me and my brothers when we were little, To watch over Grandma to make sure she didn’t hurt herself, And to take her to programs. But Grandma Judy steadily got worse, Until she was so ill that we had to put her in the hospital. She stayed their for a few weeks, then got moved again, This time to Budd Terrace, a place for sick old people, Which is what she was. She couldn’t walk any more, Due to her constantly getting worse, So she got a wheel chair to transport her. Grandma only got sicker, Although she had some good days, But mostly bad ones. Sometimes when I see her, She is completely out of it, And doesn’t even know my name. But occasionally, when I go and visit her, As soon as I walk into the room and she sees me she says, “Hello Sweetie how are you?” and every single syllable means so much to me. Recently Grandma stopped eating, Which my mom says means that she is happy with the life she has lived, and is ready. Ready to die, to decease, to stop living on this beautiful world, But she hasn’t let go, she’s still there, But barely. At night, when my mom comes in to kiss me good night, I ask her’ “Would Grandma Judy have…?” And my mom always answers that her mother, my Grandmother, Was a wonderful person and the center of her life, And is so hard to let go of. But we will have to eventually. Until then we grasp every opportunity to see her, To cherish what’s left of the woman that would have been my grandma, If she could, if she was able to. Just one day of having the grandmother that every child wants to have, And every mother wants to be, Would have meant so much to me. But as grandma Judy used to say “Take it in stride” Which is what we have to do.