Trying to live without regrets

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2005
3:34 PM

Finally, a little breathing room. Bosslady is out of town this week so I finally get to work on things other than my stupid job and trying to keep up with the house (I'm ignoring the pile of dishes for a few more minutes).

Had a bit of a whirlwind weekend. I drove down to Waynesboro on Saturday to visit my grandmother. I had kind of an ulterior motive, but I think it's a noble one. You see, my grandmother has had a Christmas tradition for years and years - OK, more like decades - actually my great grandfather started it, so... closing in on a century? Anyway, she calls it a parade and it's a HUGE collection of miniatures - tiny animals, people, houses, shops, etc. etc. She only puts it up at Christmas time because it's so big. It takes up her whole basement room, and it takes her three days to put it all up, and then three more to take it down. It is a huge part of my childhood Christmas, and as far as I know it's a unique tradition.

Anyway, my grandmother is approaching 87 and her health is not so good anymore (she's diabetic). My parents and uncles are talking to her about moving to an assisted living facility, which, while sad because she'd have to leave her house, would be much better for her. She's really getting less and less able to live on her own anymore - while I was there she was unsteady on her feet and almost fell. It scares the crap out of me that she might fall and break her hip, sometime soon. One of my uncles lives near her, but he can't be there all the time. Also, my dad asked her that day what her blood sugar was, and she said 330. (For those of you who are not familiar with diabetes numbers, normal is like 90-120. 330 is amazingly high.) She's had eye surgery recently, so the stress of that is probably affecting her overall health, but that's really not good.

The point of all this is, I went down there not only to see her but to take pictures of the parade and document all of it, because this is probably the last year that she's going to put it up. By next Christmas, she'll either be in an assisted living place or she won't have the strength and energy to spend the three days putting everything into place. I've been meaning to take pictures of it for a couple of years, but didn't get around to it. I didn't want this to be something I regret for the rest of my life. So, I took the opportunity while I had it, and I'm glad I did. My folks were there too and Dad took some pictures as well. I know my grandma was happy to see me, and I could even hug her now that I'm not sick like I was when I saw her on Christmas day. And, I got to see my niece, who calls my grandmother "Great Mother" and loves the clocks in her house. It was a good day, even though I'm continually more aware of my grandmother's mortality. It's hard to admit that she won't be there forever. My granddad's been gone for seven years and I still miss him.

Fortunately, to balance out the somberness of those thoughts, we headed over to Liz's karaoke party that evening. I had not participated in that particular activity before, and I have to say, it was lots more fun than I was expecting. Of course, as has been noted, we did it a bit differently, turning it into a great big singalong, but I think that was even better. Kevin and I stopped at McD's for some ice cream on the way home, to soothe our hoarse throats. It was great fun.

Sunday I excavated our bedroom, aka the Daisy Hill Dust Bunny Farm. I got pretty ruthless and threw out a lot of random crap and clutter and it's amazing what a difference it makes. I dusted and vacuumed for the first time in months and the whole room looks soooo much better. I worked on it pretty much all day, and when Kevin came upstairs that night, he said, "It looks like we're moving out. Are we moving out?" I also have a big box of stuff for Goodwill and/or Freecycle and some other things that need to go somewhere else in the house. I'd like to attack the closet next, which shouldn't take nearly as long.

I'm thinking this is going to be the year of home improvement for us. I want to keep working on individual rooms, though fortunately with the bedroom done, that's one huge project out of the way. The library needs help still, and the basement is going to be a months-long project. But once we have it cleared out we can think about finishing it and making it nice useable living space. I'd like to do some more painting and decorating too - the kitchen and living room are next on the to be painted list. I must be channeling Kirsten or something. =)

Today I went and installed Liz's mosaic. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. I'll go back tomorrow and grout it and then get some pics to post. I plan to take more when the whole kitchen is done, to put on my website or in a portfolio or something. The kitchen is looking great! I'm sure Liz will sing its praises when it's finally finished (looks like it won't be too much longer now).

I really can't ignore the dishes any longer. I hear them calling my name...

Ciao!