The Longest Day

I wanted to write this down yesterday but I had the LONGEST day ever and I fell asleep reading and woke up to my brother calling me to let me know he had left his key for me on the counter. I had slept 12 hours, my friends, unintentionally! I set my alarm for 7pm and not 7am. I was supposed to get up early to finish my charting and notes from the day before and instead, my brother woke me up 15 minutes before my clinic was supposed to start. Luckily I decided to spend the night at his house rather than commute back and forth to my house, so I was only 15 minutes away from the clinic instead of the hour I would have been if I had slept in my actual house. I have been traveling an awful lot this month due to people out sick with COVID and other illnesses. I haven’t slept in my own bed very much at all.

Yesterday I did wake up in my own bed and quickly did my morning routine which includes a work out with my dog, because even at almost 11 years old, my little yellow lab/pitbull mix needs a lot of exercise. Then I traded out my rental car I specifically got for the inclement weather over the weekend for a more environmentally friendly car for the rest of the week. I picked up my Aunt Sarah, (after grabbing some hot Krispy Kreme donuts for the nursing staff) and we made our way to visit my Gram at her nursing home. I received updates throughout the weekend from the nursing staff about her status, and she has been completely fine and her normal self again.

My Aunt picked up some lovely flowers to give to my Gram to try and make her smile and it seemed to work. She was super chipper and talkative during the visit. She had no memory of my visit on Friday, nor me rubbing her feet. That seems to be the case when she is in these “hibernation” states. She did start talking about her time living with the Ross’ right before she married my Grandfather and then during their first few years of marriage. They talk of them in the letters. She said that Lawerence and Kenneth Ross drove her to Greensboro college where she worked. Kenneth died in a horrible car accident, so Lawerence took over. Their mother’s name was Lola. 

My grandmother is not usually someone to reminisce much- that was my Granddaddy Perkins’s job. He told the stories. She actually doesn’t have a great memory of past events, unfortunately. When I ask her what it was like to grow up during the Great Depression or Jim Crow or Women’s Liberation, she cannot give me details. She was certainly part of the resistance and fought the good fight but things are a little jumbled now. She is very quick witted about current events and keeps me on my toes about memories of the past few years. I think her brain has just run out of space. 

We kept the visit short because I had to go to my clinic to see patients and my Gram doesn’t have much endurance these days. But it was so good to see her awake. She reminded me again that she couldn’t promise to stay alive until I finish writing my book. I told her that was ok. I try to let her know she doesn’t need to hold on for anything, that we are all ok. I told her that she had worked very hard during her life and taken care of a lot of people and now is her time to rest and be taken care of. She doesn’t always follow my orders; she hates being taken care of, but she is resting.

Here’s the next letter in the series. It is actually a post card.