Day 4,053 —Visiting my Parents—

 

I headed to my folks’ home this morning. My mom and dad had told everyone about my grandmother’s health yesterday. I asked specifically how serious they thought it was, but understanding what they were saying through messages was difficult.

         I figured I would talk to them this morning and see my grandmother. It took a little over 4 miles to get there and a little over 3 miles to get back. My mom was the only one at the house, plus a lady who had been asked to help sit with my grandmother when my mom couldn’t. My dad was driving to the airport to pick up my mom’s brother.

         I sat in my grandmother’s room while she was sleeping. Her breathing was hurried, but not rapid and not a struggle. I had brought over watermelon and hydration liquid for them to try, but I couldn’t understand why they didn’t take her to the hospital.

         I sat in her room and read for half an hour alone and looked up at the quilt that my aunt Cindy had made many years ago. It has a lot of classic memories quilted into each square. There was a time that my brother lost his fishing pole when he fell asleep, and my grandpa blamed himself and bought Ben a new pole the next morning.

         There was a time when my bike tires kept getting flat, and my grandpa kept replacing them. I remember going to the store to get more tubes and always riding my bike everywhere in the campground. We would park and I would drive around on my bike and look at the put-put course and see how big the office was. Some offices had stores in them where I could go, or they would have inside games. My grandmother would always ask the front desk if there was Internet. There was usually because she had called ahead and asked before we got there. She would often have to sit inside the office and connect to the router, and then she could check and send emails