Well, I made it to Boise this past weekend. I stayed at Gma Ison's. I love that as soon as you walk into her house you know where you are. Even after a couple floods in the basement and getting some floors redone, grandma's house still smells like grandma's house... Like years of good cooking and hard work.
Grandma is now 96 years old. She has...
- lived through breast cancer
- lived through a recent hip replacement.
- out-lived her husband.
- stayed in her own home (with some assistance).
- lived through wars, Iraq, WWII and some of WWI.
- lived through the depression.
- raised six daughters.
- buried one.
- sat in a room, thus enabling four generations to be in one place.
- done everything by hand, quilts, clothing, cooking, farming, decorating, moving, building.
She's lived quite a life already... it's a shame that she's starting to forget. we had conversations three times in a row on a couple of occasions. Other times she was very surprised to see me in the room and asked how the travel was after I'd stayed there over night already. She's left the bathtub running. However, at 96, I still feel like these are all very small things.
She's still pretty capable of conversation. She asks questions that make sense. I told her I'm moving to NY next June. She wanted to make sure I had contacts out there... that I've been saving money... that I have contacts out there... are they from your neck of the woods? how do you know them? do you have contacts out there? Do you have a job? How do you get a job? do you have contacts? Are they from your neck of the woods?
I'm not a very patient person. I'll own that. So this weekend was a little difficult. On top of the repetitive questions, her hearing is less than pristine. Mom lost her voice shouting after the first day. I'm sure that Grandma knows how frustrating it can be for those talking... because after you repeat yourself a couple times... she'll nod and pretend like she understands and knows what you've said.
By the third day I had run into cousins, Emma, Chanel, Arielle. They offered much solace from the constant reminder that my amazing grandma is slowly deteriorating.
By the fourth day of Boise, my face had erupted. The tooth that's broke a little while ago got infected in a bad way. I had an amazingly swollen jaw for many of the photos taken. I took a couple pills of the stronger sort from a person who shall not be named... and it got me through until I could get back to pocatello.
On monday, Uncle Kevin had called in a favor from a local dentist for penicillin and a painkiller. Problem was, they called it into a pharmacy that was now closed for memorial day. So I took another two pills of the stronger sort and floated home in the car. I contacted my childhood dentist and he called in a prescription for me to walgreens in pocatello and I finally got put on some antibiotics.
Tuesday... I got a phone call from the family dentistry place... they could squeeze me in. An emergency visit will cost $100. So I had to pick up my paycheck first. I went to the cashier's office like normal. They said that my check had been sent to the registrar as per request. I sure didn't request it... I'm on the verge of tears, very painful tears, not ready to have the campus run around on top of this cartoonishly swollen jaw. After the mini breakdown in the registrar's office, someone comes out to tell me that yes, they have my check. They were trying to get payroll to re-release my check after they tacked on another $200 for singing the national anthem for graduation. Originally, that was not a paid gig. Apparently they liked what they heard, if they're willing to pay for it... stingy ISU is willingly separating with non-contracted money! :)
Anyway... dentist... I wound up opting to have this troublesome tooth pulled. So yesterday I was a swollen, high, mess. Today... I'm just swollen and high. I'm sure glad they gave me those pain killers though. I'm looking at getting a bridge put in later this summer.
