I think I'm loving the idea of using this blog as a diary....
I spent a few hours Friday morning with Grams, and it made me realize the importance of writing things down. She has notebooks, and boxes of loose paper with her thoughts and experiences written down. She was upset because she had been trying to organize each box chronologically. Somehow, she managed to undo what we had already done. I told her it was no big deal. Really, it is no big deal.
We had been going through her childhood stories for a few weeks now. I am half my grandmothers age, and I struggle with details on my childhood, so I find her notes to be made of gold. How wonderful it is when I ask a question she can't recall the details to. She just shuffles through her papers until she can read me a story. It was on her mind to talk about her injuries and illness throughout life. So we began..
My Grams was born into the depression era. Her parents had 6 kids. 6 freaking kids in the depression era. Seriously. What were they thinking? Her parents were poor for the majority of her life. (6 kids to feed would put anyone in the poor house!) When my Grams fell ill to appendicitis, a ten day stay in the hospital wasn't exactly in the budget. Amazingly, Grams still has the bill and payment receipts for most of her Doctor Visits over the years. Ten days in the hospital, a removed appendix, anesthesia and all were a whopping $57.00. Do you know what a TWO day stay in the hospital for appendicitis is now? $20k...( My daughter went through this 2 years ago. )
Grams had a very strict, very religious mother. She wasn't allowed to go to the theatre to see a movie because it was, 'the devils work'. (I'm not kidding) Grams was now a teenager, and going to the theatre was kind of a big deal. After a long time of begging and pleading had passed, Grams was finally allowed to see a feature film on the big screen. Permission was granted with a terrible amount of religious guilt that was sure to hang over her head for years to come.
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