Movie Night

We tried something new last night - Movie Night at Grandma's.

We just started a Netflix account - primarily to get on-demand movies, but we get fast turnaround on CD's sent to our home. When "Jazz Singer" arrived, I decided that might be a good one to try for a new tradition, movie night. When everyone leaves from their visits, Grandma has a tough time with loneliness. Telephone calls are nice - but I run out of things to talk about pretty quick.

While the TV room wasn't the greatest for a group movie (because it is so small), Grandma seemed to really enjoy the company as well as the movie. I think that is something we'll need to do again.

Punctuation

We spent the weekend at the lake again. JaNae and Lynda brought Grandma Allan on Friday. Trish and the kids joined us. I watched the kids while the rest of them went to Cafe Sabor. Trisha stayed with Grandma and the kids while the rest of us went for a walk along the beach. One of my favorite things to do is walk along the shore line. We walked so far, we got to a part where the seashells were ten inches thick. It looked like gravel, but was terrible to walk through. The shells slipped between the sole of your flip flops and your foot, cutting into you as you walked. We were gone far longer than we planned, but we had a great time visiting.

JaNae and Lynda were concerned with Grandma's home. She doesn't have the strength to water hanging plants that used to adorn her patio. Her yard is a far cry from the glory years, but at thirty dollars an hour for good gardening help and the need for a couple of hours of gardening per day, it becomes a financial impossibility to keep it the way she used to. She has four flower beds in the front yard, in addition to beds along the side of the house and flower beds all along the fence of a huge yard. She's had bugs in her grass, so even the grass isn't up to its old glory. I think its time for some redesign.

Inside the house, the shower is slippery, the throw rugs are a danger, and getting out of her chairs is more and more of a struggle every day. Plus, she gets so lonely. Everyone helps. Grandkids call and send notes. Norm comes every week to take her out to dinner. Bob takes care of the garbage. Kathy has been coming several times a week to help with the shower and transports Grandma to her weekly hair appointment. We take care of Sunday dinner. Steve goes grocery shopping with her once a week and often takes her for a ride to see the beautiful valley. JaNae and Lynda call every day and visit often. But her friends are dying or in worse shape than she is. She can't enjoy the things she used to do. She gets bored. The last time the daughters left, she became quite depressed.  It is tough to be 93.

But this weekend, Grandma enjoyed the great grand kids, seeing the canyon, and enjoying the company. It was needed punctuation for an otherwise routine existence.

My Story part 3b

My Story Part 3a

My Story Part 4

Whole Interview

Blogspot is not letting me add the whole file.  I'm not sure whether it is size of the file or total size on the website.  Anyway,  you can see the whole interview at "http://digital.cs.usu.edu/%7eallanv/AldaMovie/Alda.wmv".

Publish Post

Part 2

My Story - Part1