Tuesday, March 04, 2008

counting down

my mom called this morning to wish me happy birthday and give me the latest from Sunset Assisted Living.

- i called father rosenberg to see grandmother.
he is so-called because when he showed up at the ER for my grandfather, rosenberg was wearing a dark sweater and white-collared shirt and grandmother was in such a state that she tried to confess to him. if we hadn't wrested her away rosenberg would have learned that in her WWII mapmaking days my grandmother was responsible for eisenhower's troops showing up in southern germany when the nazis were in the east.
- why?
- because she couldn't walk. at all. and i wanted to know if it was something physical or mental.
- and?
- and he said it was mental. he said her head's not connecting with her legs any more. next is refusing to eat when the order stops coming from her brain.
- then what?
- then she dies.
my family has a rep. if we think the balance between pain and reward has permanently shifted in your life we won't make you stick around.
- what's the time frame, in father rosenberg's experience?
- i didn't ask. some things i don't want to know.

i'm glad i got down there to visit this weekend. time may be short.

6 comments:

fatmammycat said...

I didn't realise it was your birthday today, but happy birthday. The paramour also sends his very best. Sorry to hear your grandmother is ailing.

FINN said...

why thank ye.

I have aged-up too; from hereon the age groups get less and less competitive for the overall. I told neil that one of the things I wished to learn this weekend was how to not get slower with age; barring that, how to gracefully accept the things I cannot change. like the fact that the people we love are finite just like dogs.

addon said...

happy birthday finn, may there be many mnore but not too many.

FINN said...

well said Adam.

and an early Happy Birthday to yourself.

Mayrasmom said...

Happy Bday!
Sorry to hear about your grandmother. Sadly, it reminds me of my granfather. He wasn't walking toward the end either.

Subhangi Arvind said...

Wish you a belated Happy Birthday. Sorry about your gran, though.

Hugs.