Crazy Old Ladies :(

Hey guys - wow...being out of school with no homework is making me blog like crazy. Just had to share.

Unfortunately, I have sad news to report, of an unusual nature. Just now, at about 9:30 tonite, my phone rang. I was shocked to see that it was my grandmother...immediately, my thoughts started to race. Was my aunt, who had been in the hospital, ok? Was there an emergency? I braced myself for the worst.....I could only imagine why someone whose bedtime is normally 6pm would call so late. It had to be something terrible.

Well, what it was was not an emergency, but it broke my heart. My grandmother asked me is I had seen her high school graduation ring (which I had, in fact, never seen in my entire life), then launched into a very disturbing discourse about how she was going to call the cops, hire a detective, do whatever she had to do to find out who the culprit was, and make them suffer for what they had done to her - this threat included family members. She then threatened to just do everybody in by throwing away all of her treasures so none of us could have them. If Days readers could only know how much my Nannee loves her family, they would understand my shock.

I can understand the suspicion surrounding a gold antique ring, but this has happened once before. About a year ago, my Nannee called me at 6:30 in the morning and made a very passive allegation that maybe I (or someone else in the family) had stolen her treasured love letters that my grandfather had written her during World War II. This, friends, was not just ridiculous....it was a little batty.

Sadly, I slowly see my poor Nannee transforming into a crazy old lady. I long to interview her about all of her memories of the past, but to be honest, I'm unsure about what's true or not anymore. She forgets a lot of things (not in an Alz kind of way, but is just generally forgetful), and becomes enraged when we point out to her something that has slipped her mind or a story that she's repeated umpteen times. All of this is hard, but having your grandmother stop trusting her family because she is too old to think rationally about everyday situations is so depressing.

The counselor in me tried to help tonite - reminding her that, although it IS a possibility that the ring was stolen, it is unlikely, and that brainstorming about ALL of the ways the ring could have been lost is probably wise. I encouraged her to remember that she doesn't actually know WHAT happened to the ring, so it is not a good idea to let herself get upset just yet - she should ask someone she trusts to help her look for it. Heck - knowing my grandmother its been 20 years since the last time she saw or noticed the ring. Anyway.......I'm so blessed to have grandparents that are still living, but, in so many ways, I don't want to have memories of my sweet grandma like this. It breaks my heart. Can you relate??