Grandparents

Grandparents

There is bond that is different from any other on earth. It is the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. It is a bond that is like no other. It is a bond that brings people of completely different ages, interests and generations together. It is an amazing bond, one that only can be shared by grandparents and grandchildren. It is a bond that can be compared to no other.

Grandparents can put things into the lives of grandchildren that no one else can. The memories formed with grandparents live on forever. The little things like giving you a piece of candy before dinner and a big ice cream cone after. All the times spent playing games, watching TV, going to the movies or simply just sitting and talking. The times you sit and you are amazed at all the knowledge that they hold. Times you are amazed at what they have been through. The times they teach you how to cook or change the oil in a car. All the times you would take a walk around the park and feed the ducks. The memories with grandparents go on and on. Those memories they are priceless. They are moments in time captured in your heart and mind hearts forever.

Then one day something happens. You look and grandma can't keep up like she use to. Grandpa he can't make that walk around the park anymore, it takes him 10 minutes just to get up the stairs. You don't understand why you are getting stronger and they are not. You feel like you are watching them fade away. You’re helpless to do anything about it. You wish you could give them half of your strength. You look into your future and you are so excited about all the dreams you have and all the things you hope to do. Then, you look at your grandparents and you feel bad for being excited about the future when it looks like theirs isn’t very bright.

Then things begin to get worse. Not always, it doesn't need to happen. How you pray it doesn’t. Sadly sometimes it though it does. Their health, it gets worse. They begin once a week trips to the doctor. Medicine bottles line the counters and bills lay on the table. Bills you know they struggle to pay. Some days they seem so full of life and energy. Then other days you wonder what, what has happened and if they even remember who you are. You look at them and you can't imagine life without them and you have no desire to. It pains you as you watch your grandmother worry because her husband of 51 years is slipping away. You see the pain she goes through and yet you can't do anything to take it from her. You see as she wonders if he'll be alive when she goes home. Or at night as she goes to sleep and wonders if he’ll be alive when she wakes up in the morning. You can't imagine what she goes through. How she feels as she makes those weekly doctor visits and pays the medical bills. As she cries the tears and watches her husband slips away.

You watch as they forget old friends and rarely seen family members. You begin to wonder each time you see them if that will be the last time. You wonder as each holiday comes if that will be the last time your grandfather reads the Christmas story. Or your grandmother cooks her ham for Esther. You watch as they become thin and pale and as walking gets harder. Then you watch as they get lost and no longer know their way around town. As they no longer should be driving but still do. You know that the day their drivers license is taken away it will hurt them more than anything because driving is their independence. You watch as your grandfather can no longer mow his own yard or shovel his own driveway when it snows. He has to depend on your dad’s strength instead of his own. You watch your grandparents and it breaks your heart. Because you love your grandparents and you never want to be without them. You don’t want life to change. You don’t want them to be gone from your life.

Then you look at your parents, and you see the pain they have. The pain as they watch their parents slip away. You sit with them as they cry their tears. You see all the work they try to do to help their parents. The things they have to do for them. You watch you parents as they watch their parents slip away. Then you think, one day that will be me and it will be my parents that I am watching slip away from me. For now though Momma and Daddy are safe sound, healthy and fit. Its Grandma and Grandpa who you are watching sip away.