Get Off of The Roof, Grandma!

Grandma 2009 at age 90

I have told you stories about my Grandmother on my Dad's side. She was sweet, kind and loving. She told awesome stories and was multi-talented. Today, I will share stories of my Grandmother on my Mother's side.

She did not write stories, she lived them! She is about the total opposite of my other Grandmother. This Grandmother will not hesitate to put you in your place. She will tell you exactly how things are (in her eyes). It does not matter if your feelings get hurt. If you are overweight, she has no problem telling you. If you disagree with her, then you should probably leave. She has a temper and is not afraid to show it.

She is 94 years young and is currently on hospice. We tried having a live in caregiver stay with her, but that did not work out. She fired them! She does not want anyone to stay with her. She had to stay at an in-patient facility for one week when she did that. The doctors said that she could not stay by herself. The in-patient facility tried to get her to sign papers that said that she had to have someone stay with her 24 hours per day. She threw the papers at them and said " I don't tell you how to run your business and you can't tell me how to run mine!".  Never mind that she is now confined to bed and a wheelchair. She is very head strong and will not be told what to do.

Just to back up what I mean by head strong or stubborn, I must tell you the story of the gutters. This was before the wheel chair. She was still very active at 90. We had discovered that she would climb up on her roof to clean out her gutters. We were horrified that she did that. What if she fell? Well, we finally got her to promise not to get on the roof. Guess what she did instead? She climbed on a ladder and took the gutters down, cleaned them and then put them back up! She also was still mowing her 3 acres of land every week. It was not unusual for her to cut down a tree and move it with the riding lawn mower to the back to be burned. She was one tough cookie!

Even now, she manages to get herself up and into her wheelchair all by herself. She resents anyone's help. She still owns a car that she will not part with. She can't drive anymore since her stroke last Christmas, but she said that she will one day. Scary thought! None of us has the power of attorney, so that means that we can not override her decisions. Good thing the battery in the car is dead.

She is now living in an apartment and has sold her home with the 3 acres. She hates it! She tells us daily what a mistake that was. That she would have been fine if she had stayed in the country! Whenever I take her to lunch at a little diner, she will look around and say "There is nothing in here but old people!" Never mind that she is at least 30 years older than everyone else in the diner.

I wonder where I get my stubbornness from? Do you have a similar story about your Grandmother?