We will miss you, Grandma

Mary Leona Dillman Eldredge, better known as Grandma or G, passed away this morning some time after 7:00am.  I got to kiss her on the forehead before I went to work this morning.  Thanks and love to all those who knew, loved, and/or appreciated how amazing she was.  Thank you for all the support you have offered.

Smiles

We have G's hospital bed in the front room facing the beautiful view that anyone can get sucked into staring at for hours.  She's very sleepy and she can barely talk.  Mostly, she mumbles and tries to nod and use her eyebrows.  She has been so sweet to all her visitors and I'm glad she is surrounded by loved ones.  Everyone is in tears because we all love her so much.

Every time she's been awake and I've gone to her bed, she gives me a big smile and widens her eyes to try to connect as much as she can.  I am loving her smiles.

Dreams

I sent an email of my dream last night to my older sister:

I just had a dream about a super popular girl. The only way guys would ask her out is by bringing posterboards with solicitations as if they were at a football game or something. She was walking through the park with her husband and kept running into old high school classmates who had brought their signs to ask her out. One of the guys she ran into asked her how she was doing, and expressed how disappointed he was that she was married, "Naturally I made my signs, figured I had to give it my best shot. Seeing some of the people from high school is really a trip right? Some of these guys have really changed."

Then she ran into another class mate who said, "Oh, it's so nice to see you! I've made my sign, but I guess you aren't interested. What have I been up to? Well, my ex-wife has turned into quite the liberal and has been making me into one as well. She's decided I should run for office and to use the domain she already owns, 'leeanntherepublican.com'. Why buy a different one?"

So she sent me her dream:

I dreamed G pooped and you and I were like, "Well, what now?"

Jazz

G said she was listening to her irregular heartbeat when they were doing a sonogram and she tried to mimic the sounds her heart makes.  She sounded like a jazz bassist.  "boom-boo, bumpa da, bleedee-dip".  And it reminded me of PFT's jazz riff.

We were laughing and giggling about it.  It was a pleasant night.

I guess this has to be a somber post.

G had some trouble yesterday as she was throwing up and couldn't get any food down.  Anna took her to the ER today and it looks like she has a kinked bowel.  The surgeon said he really thinks it won't unkink itself and surgery is likely her only option, but he will try to drain her stomach over the next few days in hopes of helping the obstruction to unwind.

It isn't likely it will resolve itself and this is a pretty serious impasse.  G is handling it like a trooper, but is sad she will be in the hospital for the next few days, at the very least.

If you pray, please put her in your prayers.  We love her and maybe this is her time, but we are kind of selfish and want her around as long as possible.

Pest Control

I didn't stay late at work yesterday, despite the fact that I have so much work to do, because G's evening care worker wasn't able to come.  We don't like to leave G alone, so I made sure I was home earlier than usual.  When I was driving up, I heard some tapping noises and saw two beautiful bucks walking away from G's yard.  There was Ti-ti, G's daytime worker, rapping a stick on a tree to scare them away.

Apparently the deer had been bothering G and Ti-ti had to go outside in the 100 degree weather to chase them away three times because they kept coming back.

"Those deer were eating my bushes!  They better not come back."

I just love how irritated G got with some harmless deer in her yard.  It's not like we have a well manicured lawn.  I don't see the harm in having a few deer hang out for a while.

Phone Problems

"Esther, come here for a minute."

This has always been the command before a never-ending and exhausting task.  She said that before I helped her clean out the garage after Grandpa died.  She said that before she had me spend two days weeding her bank.  She said that before we spent six hours cleaning the light fixtures in her home which ended up in us cussing each other out, as the cleaning of her light fixtures always reduces people to do.

Lately, it has come to mean she will engage you in never ending dialogue about imaginary problems that her brain keeps inventing.

Today she kept pointing behind the phone and saying she needed me to help her figure out her phone coverage and how she thinks her number was taken away.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so I tried to keep a straight face and take her seriously.  She's had the same number for probably at least forty years.  Anna asked her, "Grandma, what is your phone number?"

"967-7841."

That is not her number.  At all.  And from what I can remember, it never has been.  She kept pointing behind the phone as if something was physically there to explain the whole problem.  Anna and I kept explaining she has the same number and she hasn't lost any coverage.

After about 45 minutes, I finally had to kiss her on the head, turn Law and Order: SVU on and leave the room.