We leave tomorrow for Ohio. Hopefully the freezing rain/slush/icy crap will either (1) miss us tonight or (2) thaw out enough that we can drive back to Watertown without wrecking the car. Ah, the joys of winter travel.
Right now, I am sitting in the lobby, feeding my internet addiction. The Coach is out at the bobsled run, seeing if he can do the whole ride thing. Seeing how I’ve seen most of these Olympic sites in my younger days, I wasn’t all that excited about going out and freezing my butt off. Plus, I want to make a little headway with my research before we head over to the Grandmother’s house. It really *is* over the river, though the woods to get to her place from here. LOL.
The whole family thing puts a bit of a damper on the trip. I have loved my time in Lake Placid and could see myself coming back to the Adirondacks to hike some of the high peaks. I always loved the mountains when I was a kid. I also loved going ice fishing with my late grandfather and eating Michigans from Gene’s hot dog stand near Lake Champlain. It’s different now. Gene’s is now Emil’s and the dogs are not the same. My grandmother bought us Michigans from the little store up the street in Grover Hills, but they were definitely *not* the same. Gary and I both agreed that those were the last hot dogs we are eating on this particular trip. My family and my family’s friends are slowly passing away, which means that there really aren’t that many people left to visit. I’m sure that the Grandmother doesn’t understand why we aren’t staying with her and why we are only visiting for three days. Really, it’s all about skimming the surface of a calm lake. I don’t want to make ripples. The last time we were here, she was in pretty bad shape. My aunt asked my honest opinion and then didn’t talk to me for a year because I told her the truth. My mother’s cousin is the only one who is holding the whole works together and she has her own problems.
Anyways, by staying somewhere else and by staying a short time, we won’t see the horrible underbelly associated with getting old. Fortunately, my grandmother is doing a lot better this time around. They’ve changed her pills, the seniors services place has her on Meals-on-Wheels, they bought her a new refrigerator, and they’ve got her on HEAP for heating assistance. She has a cleaning lady (thank god) and she’s about to be put on Lifeline. And next year, they are putting a health aide in her house just to keep her meds straight. She seems healthy, even if she’s grumpy at times. Ah yes, I had forgotten the whole bitchy martyr syndrome that seems to run in our family. {SNORT}
Seeing loved ones get old is really, really hard. My adopted grandmother is on her way out the door and I don’t go see her because it hurts too badly. I’m also not sure if I could keep a straight face when she would tell me that the aliens are coming to get her (as awful as that sounds). She’s also seeing thing that aren’t there and her parkinsins has gotten so bad that she has people come and help her get dressed in the morning. She is also getting meals on wheels which she loves. It’s just something about it all that really just hurts to see stuff like that.
The more I see and hear about stuff like this it really makes me want to exit with a big bang and not old, ya know steve irwin style.