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DUers have helped me as I struggled with the knowledge that Grandma would soon go to a "home." She went to live at Quaker Gardens last Tuesday, and much to our surprise, she's doing splendidly! The staff has said that they wish all their new residents could meld in as easily. Grandma is compliant and sweet, they say. She's made a friend; she goes to exercise time, singing time, and worship services. She's even played the piano there! From all I've heard, it seems that she was desperate for some assistance and structure.
One thing is certain: she was, in many ways, desperate. This has been revealed as my sisters have begun the herculean task of cleaning her house. Here are some snippets from my sister Chette's emails of yesterday, describing what she found in her first two days of cleaning:
"$735 for the plumber, $130 for parts at home depot (garbage disposer and faucet)... he had to re-pipe and re-hose and re-everything, but it is very nice now. he took the trap off and it disintegrated in his hands but what was in the trap stayed solid."
"the kitchen is getting there. the sink is very nice... the fridge is clean enough to use but still not clean enough. the counters have been scrubbed. but there are still buttloads of dirty dishes and i haven't so much as begun opening cabinets yet. and the floor... i don't know what color it's supposed to be, but i'm pretty sure it's not black."
"haven't looked at the stuff INSIDE the pantry yet. i filled one bag with papers taped and nailed to the OUTSIDE of the pantry doors. she'd tape a page up, then nail another, then impale more and more on the nail, then attach more with clothespins... i'm not even exaggerating - there was probably 10 pounds of paper on that wall from the garage door to and including the pantry doors."
I asked her to save all the photos for me. "Chelsye <my niece> has already started collecting pictures. one full box and she's only done the living room. do you want the jesus pictures too? and the reagan pictures (6 and counting)?" (She was kidding about me wanting them -- not about having found them.)
"you wouldn't believe the flowers i've found. i think she saved EVERY tiny jar she ever had (like oil of olay cream and such) and used them as bud vases. i found about 40 of them on the counter above the stove, all with flowers in various stages of decomposition."
"Bonnie <our other sister> kept a prescription bottle with Grandma's name on it from 1973. and she said there's one in the garage with <our uncle> Bill's name on it. that's gotta be a good 40-50 years old at least. oh yeah... and a prescription medicine bottle with your name on it, from 1968!!"
Chette called today to say, "oh. my. god. When you see some of this stuff you are going to shit." :hurts: She had found tons of Republican electioneering propaganda. My grandmother worships Ronald Reagan. She told me about wearing his campaign buttons -- his CA governor campaign buttons -- to work at McDonnell Douglas, and talking politics with her co-workers. We're going to sell it on eBay, probably, and sink the money back into the house.
Other finds:
* 1/3 of a $20 bill and 1/4 of a $10 bill -- disintegrated, found in the collection under the kitchen sink
* my father's baby book
* $325 (and counting)
* two Morton salt boxes from, it seems, the '60s, filled with pennies
* a calendar without the year on it, but it must be from the '50s: my mother's birthday is marked on it with her full name -- her maiden name. Only an unhappy mother whose son is dating someone she doesn't like would do that, I think.
Who knows what they'll find tomorrow? I feel so bad about not being able to help, but now I'm also jealous.
Oh, crap, I need to call Chette: I forgot to ask her to save me Grandma's fried marble lamp!
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