What About Grandaddy?
Friday, March 8, 2024
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God. Ps. 71:18, NIV.
Grandaddy came to live with us when he was 94 years old and stayed for two years, until declining health forced him into a nursing home. Some people think taking care of older people is a chore. If that's what you think, it will be. But Grandaddy wasn't a chore. He was family.
We had raised our kids within a stone's throw of Grandaddy's little house. He'd help care for our chickens and animals, and he loved to tell the children stories. We even took him on vacation to places he'd never seen before, such as Myrtle Beach or the Great Plains.
When our place burned, Grandaddy wanted us to rebuild. Instead we purchased 200 acres and built a number of miles away. That was tough on him, because his eyesight was failing. He needed us close.
My original plan was that he would stay with us at night, and then I'd feed him breakfast and take him to his house during the day. But when he moved into our house he became so depressed I couldn't leave him alone. I guess he decided he was going to die. He wouldn't eat or drink water. Although he could walk, he wouldn't, so I got him a wheelchair and pushed him around the house. After three weeks he decided that maybe he wasn't going to die after all, so he started eating and walking and grew to like our place.
Grandaddy was easy to care for, since he ate with us and fit into our routine. But trying to get Grandaddy to take a bath was a challenge. He thought twice a month was often enough! Sometimes he'd get mad at me and stomp his foot, but I didn't take it personally. When we needed to get away, we'd use his pension money to pay some friends to stay with him. They loved him as much as we did. Grandaddy was good company.
Life is what you choose to make of it. Sure, we gave up a little of our freedom when we chose to have Grandaddy move in with us, but we gained far more in return.
What can you do to make an elderly person's life more fulfilling without taking away that person's freedom?
Grandaddy came to live with us when he was 94 years old and stayed for two years, until declining health forced him into a nursing home. Some people think taking care of older people is a chore. If that's what you think, it will be. But Grandaddy wasn't a chore. He was family.
We had raised our kids within a stone's throw of Grandaddy's little house. He'd help care for our chickens and animals, and he loved to tell the children stories. We even took him on vacation to places he'd never seen before, such as Myrtle Beach or the Great Plains.
When our place burned, Grandaddy wanted us to rebuild. Instead we purchased 200 acres and built a number of miles away. That was tough on him, because his eyesight was failing. He needed us close.
My original plan was that he would stay with us at night, and then I'd feed him breakfast and take him to his house during the day. But when he moved into our house he became so depressed I couldn't leave him alone. I guess he decided he was going to die. He wouldn't eat or drink water. Although he could walk, he wouldn't, so I got him a wheelchair and pushed him around the house. After three weeks he decided that maybe he wasn't going to die after all, so he started eating and walking and grew to like our place.
Grandaddy was easy to care for, since he ate with us and fit into our routine. But trying to get Grandaddy to take a bath was a challenge. He thought twice a month was often enough! Sometimes he'd get mad at me and stomp his foot, but I didn't take it personally. When we needed to get away, we'd use his pension money to pay some friends to stay with him. They loved him as much as we did. Grandaddy was good company.
Life is what you choose to make of it. Sure, we gave up a little of our freedom when we chose to have Grandaddy move in with us, but we gained far more in return.
What can you do to make an elderly person's life more fulfilling without taking away that person's freedom?
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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