On the Up

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

This morning my mother, aunt and I moved my grandmother into the dementia unit at Ruth's House in Longmeadow, MA. It's been a long, exhausting process and I honestly feel I'm older now for having been through it, but now that everything is settled I'm just SO excited for my grandmother. They'll be keeping her busy while she's awake with lots of varied activities so that she doesn't have to sit on her love seat all day watching a tv she can't even hear. She's not Jewish, but since Jewish Geriatric Services, Inc. runs Ruth's House she'll be eating kosher now and that will help with her dietary problems. She rooms with an adorable little Irish lady who rarely speaks that everyone calls Froggie. I just think it will do her so much good to be in a place where she can go outside for a walk in the garden if she wants to (actual sunshine! No more artificial light!) or sit on the big patio reading in the shade.

I have my fingers crossed for her, although I admit it was nerve wracking watching her wheel away into the big crowd of strangers that will now be her every day companions. I felt like I was watching my child wander off toward his first day of kindergarten. Will they be nice to her? Will she make friends? Will she be lonely and hate it? Did we do the right thing? My grandmother is so brave, though. Even though she worried herself sick the entire drive over, she introduced herself to everyone. By the time lunch was being served she'd made so many friends that she was sitting with them all at the head of the biggest table in the dining room! She seriously blows my mind.

Now that she's settled somewhere safe, David and I can start living our lives for ourselves again again. We're staying in my grandmothers house (upping the number of generations of my family to have lived here at various times to FOUR!) and are now facing the daunting task of changing the house around to better suit us and the baby. It's a big job, but I'm actually looking forward to it more than I expected. I must be doing some serious nesting. The room we chose for the baby used to be my mothers room when she was small, and we're moving the giant antique mahogany record player into the dining room so that we can listen to our records while we eat. When the weather gets a little bit warmer we'll be putting in a new fence and planting an herb garden in the backyard. If anyone nearby feels like getting their hands dirty soon, I'll be doing a lot of painting in the coming weeks (before I get too pregnant). If you've ever visited my grandmother's house and are concerned, don't worry- her amazing psychedelic yellow and orange floral wallpaper in the kitchen is STAYING. I would NEVER be able to find anything more wonderful and I know it.

With all the fuss and turmoil lately, it completely slipped my mind that my 26th birthday is in EIGHT DAYS. I have the baby shower coming up in June, so it doesn't really make sense for me to have a big party or anything. If I had a housewarming/birthday dinner here or something, though, would anyone come? It won't exactly be last years crazy Manhattan extravaganza (understatement), but it'd still be nice to see everyone and to show off my new home once it's done.

I just had this incredibly insane thought- do I actually have EVERYTHING I could possibly ask for right now? My grandmother is safe and getting the care she needs, my family has been brought closer together because of it, I'm having a baby (who, in utero at least, has an appreciation for the theremin) with a person I love and adore, we live in our own house. Wow, just wow.

If you need me, I'll be upstairs blissing on that for a little while.