I Met a Man Named Loyal

Last week I traveled to Minnesota with my mother. My dear grandmother recently had to enter a nursing home. I never considered how complicated and expensive the process would be (who knew getting old would cost so much). It made for a difficult week. The shinning silver lining was seeing my grandmother, Evelyn. She's 95 now and up until February 1 of this year (when she had her stroke) she was one of the most active people I know. I knew it would be hard to see her resigned to a wheelchair, stuck in a nursing home. And it was. But I won't go into it.

What I will say is that my grandmother is quite popular. She genuinely loves people. She has an astounding number of friends and treasures each one. It amazes me that she can remember everyone's name, who they are related to,what they do, where they're from, etc. I wish I could be more like her. She is always writing, calling, asking people how life is going. And now that she's incapacitated, many are returning the favor. Almost everyday we were there she had another visitor. They call her Evy.

So while visiting grandma, I met a lot of people. Actually, I should I say met them again. They had seen me around when we lived in Minnesota. It's impossible for me to remember them though. I haven't lived in Minnesota since I was two. But I digress. Many of these folks had the most interesting names. 'Old people' names, you know what I mean? Ethelyde, Ardis, Muriel. Then there was a man named Loyal.

armless elfs grandma has gifted
me over the years

When we weren't at the nursing home, we were at grandma's apartment sorting through things and packing things away. I wished I had brought my camera. Grandma has collected some very interesting objets d'art in her time. Most of them are Scandinavian in nature (grandma loves showing off her Norwegian heritage). Lots of strange elf-looking things. But some really pretty pieces as well. She has a thing for blue glass. (I too have a thing for colored glass. Perhaps she is the source.)

i swiped a few

You know what else my grandma loves? Crossword puzzles. She had at least dozen books of crossword puzzles. Before calling it a day, mum and I would watch Nick at Nite together and solve some crosswords. It was more fun than it sounds.

Besides, there was no internet.