Visiting with Grandma Row

Grandma asked me, "What happened to your hair?" Used to be that Grandma talked about how thick my hair was. Times are changing!

---

Later, I met Grandma's dining buddies Ruth, Pearl and Virginia.

Ruth is Grandma's roommate. Grandma said the staff put them together because they thought they'd known each other before, but Grandma told me she'd never met the lady.

Ruth didn't talk much, but Pearl... she's quite the talker.

At one point, Kaleb, my youngest, was standing near Pearl and she cried out, "Oh my God! You're just a doll!"

Pearl kept trying to get Kaleb to talk, but Kaleb's a little shy at times. Pearl would ask, "Can you say 'hi'? Can you say, 'I love you'?", but she'd get nothing out of Kaleb. After a little bit of this, Kaleb finally responded, and Virginia piped up, "Why he can talk!"

Grandma introduced all of us, and she did so as only a Grandma could:

"This tall one's Kyle; he's the singer. This next one's Hannah; she's the photographer. Then here's Korben; he's the reader. This one's Keaton; he's the musician. And this little one's Kaleb, and we don't know what he's going to be yet."

All through the introductions, Pearl listened, nodded and commented. Grandma then mentioned that we lived in Lafayette. "I've got friends in Lafayette!," said Pearl.

Grandma went on to say that I worked for Crane, and Pearl looked right at me and said, "It's nice to meet you, Russell."

Grandma tried to explain that my name was Ken, at which point Pearl looked directly at my son Kyle and said, "And it's nice to meet you, Ken."

Grandma just shook her head and gave up trying straighten Pearl out.

---

Here's a rarity... a picture of Grandma! I managed to snap this using Hannah's phone. If I'd walked in with a camera, Grandma would've fussed, but she didn't pay attention at all to the phone.

Grandma and Kaleb

Grandpa's Cold Coffee

[Note: The family and I drove to Bedford today to see my Grandpa Row who is currently in Dunn's ICU due to possible mini-strokes]

When I arrived, Grandpa was nearing the end of his dessert.  He'd wanted Neopolitan ice cream, but they only had orange sherbet, so Grandpa settled for that.  Slowly and carefully, he finished off the last of it, then asked for some coffee.

My sister Kelly said he had coffee on his tray, but she thought it might be cold.

"Well, coffee's coffee," grandpa replied.

Kelly offered him the straw.  He sipped and then grumbled, "The least they could have done was warm it up!"

That sounds like the Grandpa I remember!

I'm hopeful that Grandpa's on the mend. My cousin Beth reported that he'd asked her to bring him back a Twinkie. He's also sleeping peacefully, which is significant because he fights sleep if he thinks he's ill -- He doesn't want to die in his sleep.