If we ever needed a better excuse to put our own life on hold, be it blogging, working, spending time with friends, being in your own home, there is no better excuse then your 95 year old grandmother. I count myself blessed to still have this lovely woman in my life. She is the fourth of five children and the only living one. She's outlived her husband and two of her children. She's born and raised in New Mexico and has a long-term memory that amazes me.
She's lived in her house for 50 years and this year we've spent the greater part of the Spring and Summer in NM making the move from her house into my moms. This has been no easy task. Her property and house were full to the rim with stuff, a lifetime of memories and cherished things. Making these changes so late in your life is no fun, and she was a good sport even if we did verbally spar about crazy things, she LOVES her clothes, and she has LOTS of them.
She's had two hip surgeries in one year and a fractured back, she doesn't hear well, even with the hearing aids, but she moves faster then most of us ever will. She still thinks she is 20. She loves music and singing, anytime she hears a tune she starts doing a little jig with her walker as a partner. She can be stubborn beyond belief and hilarious on the other hand. I used to cry laughing on the phone when I'd call to say hello, she just has tall tales, not all based in reality, but funny none the less.
She told me when we were sitting in a restaurant: "I like to watch the old gals be all prissy," when I told her they were probably watching her watch them, she said "I am watching them to see if I can learn some new tricks." When we passed a Hooters, which I swear she's never been to, she said "I was going to join Hooters, but they talked me out of it." Seriously I could go on and on. She talks to EVERYONE (I might have inherited this part of her). People stop and listen and laugh out loud at the outrageous things she says. She's a real charmer. She's proud of her age and swears that she'll live to 100, and she probably will. She's planning on throwing herself a party when she turns 100 and getting drunk.
At 95 she told me the other day she was bored, she doesn't like to watch TV much and is so used to waiting on people, cooking, gardening, cleaning, doing their laundry and now with some limitations she can't do it all. I asked if she ever had a hobby, she said no, she never had time for such things, she was too busy with a houseful of people. She strongly dislikes be alone and will follow you around everywhere. My mom swears she's stalking her.
She loves boys, men, the male gender, period. She told us when she was growing up farming she was always out in the fields with the boys, she just got comfortable. She'll flirt with the best of them, and they just love her. She'll come to Rob first for just about everything, she only wants him take her for a walk or take her socks off (which he flatly refuses to do, shoot he'd doesn't even like his own feet).
Speaking of farming, she use to can all the food they grew. i'm convince she ate so well, (organic, before it was a fad) that this is why she's lived so long. When she cooked more it was always delicious. She still has a apricot tree in the backyard and this year it produced a small batch of fruit. I talked her into helping me make her apricot jam, which I used to eat by the spoonful. She couldn't remember the recipe, she NEVER wrote any recipe's down, but we tested it a bit and got a good jar out of what you see above.
Three Generations
While in New Mexico this last time I found out the Rail yards were open to the public for a Farmers Market. Mom and I took Grandma down there to see them. She was amazed, she'd never been allowed in these buildings, even though she used to live down the street, the Rail yard were always full of trains and workers. Now they are all abandoned and used for quite a few movies. She lamented that she wished she could have shared this experience with one of her older sisters and younger brother. It was a treat for the three of us, who had never been inside ourselves.
So while it's been quiet in this space, my life has been full of good memories and family duty and a great sense of accomplishment and pride in this lovely lady, who may just out live us all.
