Saint of Miracles

We went today to move my Grandma out of rehab back to her apartment. Once again, she totally forgot that she was moving or that we'd visited her everyday for the past three days. Mostly, my Mom went around haranguing the staff about this and that (my Grandma's walker, the lost clothes, etc.) and I packed my Grandma's stuff up and put it in the car. We said goodbye and finally left.

People at the nursing home where my Grandma lives were surprisingly nice. As I was bringing the bags into her apartment, the woman who lives across the hallway asked if she was back. "She's moving back into today," I answered.

When my Grandma wheeled into the lobby, a bunch of people greeted her. I actually heard one of the staff gush that she was back. Geez, maybe my Grandma is more popular than I realized.

Turns out Aaron is moving on and getting a new job. Aaron is the staff member that has always taken the most interest in her, asking after her, making sure she's okay. What a loss.

While I was unpacking and whatnot, my Mom met with Tracy and her workers. Tracy is one of my Mom's older friends. She recently started a home care business, which means she oversees people to look after the elderly. My Mom got a discount through her.

I think Tracy's okay. I've seen her rip people out a fair few times, and once you see that, you learn not to cross people. Not that I ever have. I was a little surprised by her enthusiasm to see me. She was so proud of me for graduating from college. She gave me a hug.

I guess people's excitement surprises me for a whole host of reasons, but mostly because it was never a question I was going to graduate. For others I'm sure this isn't true, but I was clearly going to make it out of MSU. I worried occasionally for my GPA, but I was indeed going to graduate.

As the women talked about my Grandma's needs, she interrupted a lot. Which I think is one of her most annoying habits. You'll be trying to have a conversation about her health with a doctor, and she she needs to talk about a picture of a dog hanging on the wall. She did the same thing today.

Whenever I'm at my Grandma's place, I have a whole list of things to do. Today, because we were moving back in, I had even more to do. I put everything I could away. I hung up her clothes. I went through her refrigerator, throwing away all the things that had expired. My Grandma's been out of the apartment since March, so all her yogurts were bad, and surprisingly, everything else was fine. My Grandma also drinks a lot of Propel, but she's too weak to open the bottles by herself, so I open them and then reseal them for her. I made ice for her. And then I watered her plants. And checked her mail.

As I was going through her fridge, I thought about a few years back, when she was living in a house. Every week in the summer I would go to her house and go through her fridge, which always had food with mold in it. I'd throw it away, knowing if I didn't she'd eat it.

After Tracy and co left, my Grandma hung out with some of her friends. A big group of them sat eating cake and having coffee. One of the women mentioned that she was a big Saint Anthony fan. "Me too," my Grandma said.

I think about Saint Anthony a lot when I think of my Grandma, probably because my work is in saints. I don't understand why my Grandma went with him as her patron saint, and not some of the other saints that I think she would naturally fall to.