Life

This past weekend my family decided to take a trip to Kentucky to see my mom's family. My grandpa aka Sugar just had surgery on his arm, and my grandma was put into a nursing home until he can heal to take care of her again.

I was so excited that Michael was able to come with us, especially since he's never been to Kentucky or met most of my mom's side of the family. However, I was NOT excited about the long long ride ahead of us on Friday. Michael, me, and my sister crammed together in the back seat of my dads HHR and made the best of it. After 8 hours of driving, we finally made it to my Aunt Sissy and Uncle June's farm where we spent Friday night. My uncle is a talker, so we enjoyed the conversation with them, but had to leave the next morning.

Saturday afternoon came around and we finally arrived in Paducah, Kentucky where my grandparents live. Pretty much as soon as we got there, Sugar wanted to go see grandma, because he wasn't able to drive in the past few days because of his surgery.

Now, one thing about me is that I really really dislike nursing homes. They are very depressing to me, and it just squeezes my heart every time I have to go in one. We got there and walked into her room, and my grandma just looked so pail. She has Alzheimer's, and currently she's in the late stages of it. She has forgotten to walk and she doesn't remember how to talk really. She can still say a few words. We walked in and she was kinda sleeping. Sugar woke her up to tell her that she had visitors, and she opened up her eyes and looked all around the room. She stopped on me and just stared at me. 3 years ago was the last time that I saw her, and she mistook me for my mom, because we look so much alike. She didn't say a word to me or even give me a facial expression, just stared. This was almost more than I could take. My heart just broke for her. I wish I could know what she thinks. I wish more than all that she wouldn't be in any pain. Because she has forgotten to walk, her arthritis is starting to get really bad.

I simply cannot imagine living life in her condition. Yes, I am aware that she doesn't really know what's going on, but I still cannot imagine. A scary thing is the fact that so far, every woman in her family has Alzheimer's-that's 9 sisters, and from them so far all of their daughters have it or are showing the early signs of it.

I am so thankful for what God has given me in my life, and I am thankful that my grandmother is still living. She just had her 79th birthday on Saturday!! I will continue to thank God for her, because I know she still has a purpose here on this earth.