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85 years is exactly how long my Gramma has been movin-and-a-shakin on this earth. Tearin it up. And the worst part is she gets nothing for it. She worked until she was 74. She lived through the Great Depression, WWII, the assassination of JFK and every other thing that was of some minor importance in US history and no asks her about it. Her mom had a flapper hair cut (scandal woman) and not a single person cares to ask.
This disappoints me because my grandmother isn’t like some old people that are just cranky and nasty. she bakes and makes and rocks out to Patsy Cline and Frank Sinatra (just like we all will- but by then Britney will be the equivalent of Liz Taylor) ….But in talking to my boyfriend- I realized it is our society which makes the elderly so uncool. We don’t want to be reminded of death. We don’t want to be reminded that we will age and stop being twenty or thirty something. We don’t ask old people about their single most favorite memory because we don’t want to hear a four hour long story.
My grandma busted her ass working her whole life, raised four boys and my mom, and maybe she’ll see the youngest one every couple of weeks. She’s not needy. She has soo many activities and an address book that more impressive than most successful real estate people… except everyone in it, practically, is already dead. Her best friend from childhood died a couple of years ago, her friend Jane, from the 40’s died last February- and countless others whose names have disappeared from conversations about outings and daytrips. Half of her bridge club is dead; canasta, too; and even though those are just old people games- it made her really happy when she won the $4 jackpot.
I don’t think I have a reason to write this. But when I went home yesterday (to the only place where I’ll always feel comfortable) and there my Gramma was sad and lonely and telling me no one goes to visit her. She’s always been the life of the party and now there was something almost bitter about her. If I lived closer and I drove I would spend so much more time with her… I used to spend a lot of time there when I was younger. And I gave her Hell. But I think secretly she enjoyed it.
Now her primary relationship is with the TV…
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