Moving Weekend

(mixed with pix of family and friends)

My grandmother is like the Energizer Bunny, she just keeps on going.

Twenty years ago, she had a stroke that left her with aphasia.  She thinks and conceives just fine, but can't get the words from her brain out of her mouth consistently. In the twenty years since she had this stroke, she's buried her husband, daughter and son-in-law.  She's told us when was the time to move, first, from her house to a retirement apartment, and now, from the apartment to an assisted living facility. 

My brother and sister in law did all the hard work prior to my arrival.  They arranged for the movers and new pieces of furniture that would be needed.  They tended to my grandma while she recovered from pneumonia and then the fall she suffered after being discharged.  Poor Miki looks like she's been in a bar fight.

 

We moved her teeny tiny clothes and set up her dorm room kitchen.  It actually reminded me of settling your child into a dorm room at college.  Here's hoping Grandma has a few keggers with the nuns on her wing.  How great would that be?

The folks at the facility seem so nice and they all seem to love Grandma.  I mean, how could they not?  She's a 96 year old wonder woman who makes the most out of life. 

I was told a story about her over the weekend.  It seems she was at the funeral for my sister in law's brother in law.  (Follow that?)  She sought out Sharon and told her she has to "keep on plugging."  This personifies her.  She's the one who's survived, who has overcome and continues to be happy and feel blessed.  She keeps on plugging.

She is my inspiration.

I hope you can see the little hat on Rose's head.  Grandma must have had this in her  life for many years, back to the days when women wore hats to mass.  I wish she could tell me why this hat was so special.  All I know is I now have the hat, and I'm going to wear the heck out of it.  Thanks Grandma.