Last Saturday, my mother e-mailed me to say that my grandmother had given half the family a royal scare. To back up just a bit, as we were leaving for the beauty shop on Friday, some dear friends of my grandmother drove into the driveway. The man is a deacon in her church and they are so good to her; however, he is very ill and taking chemotherapy, and he could hardly get up the steps and in the doorway - and he was DRIVING! They had brought Mam-ma tomatoes that they had driven down on the river to pick. They realized we were leaving and hurriedly left, also.
Saturday, my sister took Timothy and went visiting - first to my mom's, and then she planned to visit Mam-ma. She phoned Mam-ma around noon and told her that she was coming by in a couple of hours for a visit. Mam-ma's friend Ruby then called and invited my grandmother to go visiting with her at one of the nursing homes. Mam-ma declined, and told Ruby that my sister was coming by for a visit.
So when my sister arrived at 2:00, the house was locked tightly, the garage doors were closed, and no one would answer the doors. It concerned my sister, and she called my mom, who called Ruby. Ruby did not know where my grand mother was, and she related to Mom that Mam-ma would not go to the nursing home with her because she knew my sister was coming for a visit. So Ruby went over to my grandmother's, and she could not get anyone to answer the door. Now everyone was frightened. At some point my sister took the baby home, and my mom and her husband went over to my grandmother's, because they had a house key, and they fully expected to find her dead or injured inside. The only odd thing was that Mam-ma almost never closes her garage door during the daytime hours if she is home.
Mom and Lee unlocked the door and went inside - and all through the house - and Mam-ma was not there. But her oven was on and chicken pieces were cooked to a crisp - Mom declared them "inedible". While they were looking through the house, Mam-ma returned... with her friends from Friday. They had been somewhere to pick plums. This couple came by and invited Mam-ma to go, and she dropped everything and rode along - totally forgetting that my sister was coming by... or that she had chicken baking in the oven.
I think Mom and Ruby both fussed at her pretty strongly. She called my sister four times in the next 12 hours to apologize. She also called my mom and apologized. They all assured her they were over it. But coming on the heels of forgetting her purse at Fred's, this is disconcerting. And frankly, I was more upset about the oven and the chicken. However, I had told her the day before that she did not need to ride with this dear man who is so ill and shouldn't be driving, and she said, "Oh, I won't!" Well, you see how long that lasted!
Tuesday, when my grandmother called us to say that the grocery store had called her again about the check that was not signed, she told my husband, "I have been so upset." He asked why, and she started telling him about the incident on Saturday. My husband can do more with Mam-ma than most people, and he stopped her and said, "I know all about that, and you need to get over it. Nobody else is still upset about it. Move on. Your grand-daughter will visit again." She meekly said, "Okay." She has yet to mention the incident to me.
A friend who is a social worker with geriatric patients in a hospital setting said, "You need to disable her stove!" I told her... "Mam-ma would have a dozen deacons over there the next morning trying to fix it." My friend replied... "Put a note on the back, 'Do not repair this stove!'" That would never work. As long as Mam-ma is living at home, she is going to cook. I am really trying to "let go and let God" on this one... I know He will work this out... and better than I ever can. I am trusting that He will do so... He just hasn't told me yet how He'll manage it!
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