Mary & Hazel

This is Mary. We call her Grandma Terry. She is my mom's mom and she is the best. She has Alzheimers and doesn't remember me or my kids or Nate. She is in a care center in utah county. We went to visit her and grandpa (who just moved to the same place as grandma just a couple of days before we went to visit) and Hazel who is Grandma's sister. I used to spend weeks at a time with Grandma and Grandpa Terry in the summertime. We would make a quilts, noodle necklaces, salt dough, sleep out, make trips to Ream's with Grandpa to get icecream cones, which was totally awesome because this particular Reams used to be a Skate Rink and the outside looked like a building that Frotto the hobbit would have lived in, like a big mushroom roof with curvy edges. We would have to sneak to get icecream because grandma didn't like grandpa to eat sugar, which was evident when she served us whole wheat sugarless karob chip cookies. That's what I want to remember about my grandparents. Grandpa is still good for some serious swears, many of which my kids learned on this last visit with him. Doesn't it seem a bit backwards, like, shouldn't you live a life by giving it your all, raising great kids, taking care of your health, contributing to society, staying faithful, and fearing God, and then be rewarded. With I don't know what, but I don't think I would choose to be rewarded with diapers and memory loss, and the shirt, you know the one I'm talking about, the one with dried food chunks on it, always. Hmmm, I am sure there is a very good reason for coming full circle- we come into the world a baby and leave with many of the same physical and mental demonstrations as a child. Maybe, just maybe it makes it easier to leave. I'll take the Thelma and Louise version thank you.

This is Hazel. Sweetest. Thing. Ever. She told us that her job is to dust the nick nacks. She also hugged Fisher about 43 times, which he was really loving, he just smiled and hugged her back with his shy little self. She took each of my kids by the hand and told them to take me by the hand and come visit her at her house. Her house was always magical to me, I could pretend for hours in her yard. Please, remind me to take my vitamins, to exercise, to eat good for me food, and to do my sudoku puzzles. Each moment is priceless, make the most of them, that's what this little visit helped me to remember, again.