This week in grandma: Meals on Wheels and recent visitors
It's been a while since I gave a grandma update. She recently decided she was interested in getting Meals on Wheels, so mom started looking into it. It would take 10 days to two weeks for someone to meet with her; that happened on Friday. Per grandma, the guy was there and gone so quickly she didn't even get to ask how soon the food would start coming, though for some reason she had Tuesday in her head and wondered if it would start this week.
...This Tuesday is Independence Day. It's not starting this Tuesday.
Anyway, grandma met the guy down in the foyer of her building. He was supposed to be there between, I don't know, let's say 11-1; he arrived around 2:30. Grandma was all surprised that he knew she was the one waiting for him, given that other people were there at the time. Hmm, a 91-year-old randomly waiting in the lobby, let's think about this... He had paperwork for her to sign, and he basically pointed at wherever her signature was needed, and then he left. Grandma had no idea what she signed, which is concerning. I'm half expecting her to wake up in a bathtub full of ice and missing a kidney. Mom was like, I hope you didn't sign away your house! We're guessing it was some sort of standard release form, but I said to mom, you should get a copy of the form the next time you talk to them. Grandma's supposed to get 10 frozen meals a week. This somehow seemed unappetizing to her, like it was too much food. Mom went, if all you ate were two meals a day, that's still 14 meals a week. ...Oh, right. So we'll see how this goes.
Meals on Wheels is provided through Catholic Charities, which also sponsors at-home health care, similar to what my grandfather had back in the day, except he spurned any help because he was an old obnoxious goat and refused to believe he was living a life of squalor that was contributing to his illnesses, but I digress. Grandma is not to that level of care and hopefully will remain pretty independent, but that did cause us to segue into how unpleasant my grandfather could be, and unhelpful, and do you know who is a father who really impresses grandma? My cousin's husband.
You have to understand that a week and a half ago, my cousin's husband brought the three kids over for a visit, and apparently he was really good with the baby and the kids and grandma was so impressed by that. This is two generations removed from her husband; she doesn't seem to understand that male ignorance of child care doesn't pass muster any longer. He genuinely enjoys his kids and taking care of them, from what grandma could tell. Good. I like hearing that, even if grandma's sort of dumbfounded by that thought. Really, her own son was pretty good at that with his own three kids, so I would expect M to get the same out of her husband. This is the really remarkable thing, though; M was working that day, and her husband brought the kids all on his own. Now that's impressive to me. The older kids are good with the baby. Given that the oldest has just turned 10 as of last Tuesday (she shares a birthday with my dad), I'm sure she's a huge help and she was *very* excited to get a little sister. Their brother also appears to really enjoy the baby as well, which perplexes grandma for some reason, though she also calls him a strange child for some reason. I asked, what, is he still tying people up? Oh no, she said, but otherwise didn't elaborate. I mean, we know his genes; perhaps grandma's DNA is strong in him. But otherwise he's a little boy. Let him be.
...This Tuesday is Independence Day. It's not starting this Tuesday.
Anyway, grandma met the guy down in the foyer of her building. He was supposed to be there between, I don't know, let's say 11-1; he arrived around 2:30. Grandma was all surprised that he knew she was the one waiting for him, given that other people were there at the time. Hmm, a 91-year-old randomly waiting in the lobby, let's think about this... He had paperwork for her to sign, and he basically pointed at wherever her signature was needed, and then he left. Grandma had no idea what she signed, which is concerning. I'm half expecting her to wake up in a bathtub full of ice and missing a kidney. Mom was like, I hope you didn't sign away your house! We're guessing it was some sort of standard release form, but I said to mom, you should get a copy of the form the next time you talk to them. Grandma's supposed to get 10 frozen meals a week. This somehow seemed unappetizing to her, like it was too much food. Mom went, if all you ate were two meals a day, that's still 14 meals a week. ...Oh, right. So we'll see how this goes.
Meals on Wheels is provided through Catholic Charities, which also sponsors at-home health care, similar to what my grandfather had back in the day, except he spurned any help because he was an old obnoxious goat and refused to believe he was living a life of squalor that was contributing to his illnesses, but I digress. Grandma is not to that level of care and hopefully will remain pretty independent, but that did cause us to segue into how unpleasant my grandfather could be, and unhelpful, and do you know who is a father who really impresses grandma? My cousin's husband.
You have to understand that a week and a half ago, my cousin's husband brought the three kids over for a visit, and apparently he was really good with the baby and the kids and grandma was so impressed by that. This is two generations removed from her husband; she doesn't seem to understand that male ignorance of child care doesn't pass muster any longer. He genuinely enjoys his kids and taking care of them, from what grandma could tell. Good. I like hearing that, even if grandma's sort of dumbfounded by that thought. Really, her own son was pretty good at that with his own three kids, so I would expect M to get the same out of her husband. This is the really remarkable thing, though; M was working that day, and her husband brought the kids all on his own. Now that's impressive to me. The older kids are good with the baby. Given that the oldest has just turned 10 as of last Tuesday (she shares a birthday with my dad), I'm sure she's a huge help and she was *very* excited to get a little sister. Their brother also appears to really enjoy the baby as well, which perplexes grandma for some reason, though she also calls him a strange child for some reason. I asked, what, is he still tying people up? Oh no, she said, but otherwise didn't elaborate. I mean, we know his genes; perhaps grandma's DNA is strong in him. But otherwise he's a little boy. Let him be.