I'm in Atlanta this week to see my grandmother. She's 78 and is here with my parents for a few weeks while she recovers from a fall that broke her back and her elbow (more on that below). I'm learning a lot from grandma.
1. You CAN survive on a steady diet of coffee, Cheetos and Little Debbies. No joke, here's my grandma's diet: breakfast is coffee with a couple cigarettes; lunch is Cheetos and a Coke (totally serious); dinner is a Little Debbie Star Crunch and another Coke (while she's here with my parents she's indulged them by eating a little of whatever my mom fixes for dinner that night). So here I am agonizing over feeding my kids hydrogenated oils, genetically-modified vegetables, and high-fructose corn syrup while my grandma puts nothing but chemicals in her body and enjoys it. Laugh. Out. Loud.
2. Life can be pretty scary when you get older. Technology changes so fast that I can't imagine what the world will look like by the time I'm in my 80's. Grandma has had to figure out how to pay her bills, maintain her house, and simply live in a society she can't begin to understand. Crazy to think about. Not to mention that her view of the world is pretty much what she watches on Cops and the evening news. Scary for sure! She thinks that's complete reality and is always warning me about stuff she sees on TV. Note to self, try to stay up on technology trends at least every few years so I don't feel totally helpless later. And never watch the evening news.
3. Hobbies are crucial. My grandma's only hobby is getting stuff done. She's a workaholic. Uh oh, this is just like me. She doesn't have anything to do here at my parents' because she doesn't have any hobbies. No crossword puzzles, no books, no games. Actually, she does watch Cops, so I guess you can call that a hobby. My grandma knows she's a workaholic. She broke her back falling off the ladder that goes up into her attic. The day after she got out of the hospital she tried to mow the lawn -- I'm really not kidding. My dad and uncle had to stop her. We were sitting on the back porch today and she said she's itching to cut down all the dead branches from the trees in my parents' yard. "Why," I said, "are you scared they'll fall on the house?" "No, just because I can't stand that there are dead branches out there that need cutting down. I'm a workaholic you know." Yes, Grandma, you are the definition of one. So I made another mental note to myself to make sure I maintain some hobbies all the way to my deathbed. Otherwise I might just work myself to death.
So, it's been a good few days with Grandma. I believe you can always learn a lot from previous generations, even though the things I've pointed out here may not be the deepest lessons.
Pretty soon she'll be back at her home in Florida, getting all the things done that she's so anxious to do right now. She wants to edge the lawn (cause the guy she pays to do it doesn't do a good enough job), do all her filing, get the house ready for hurricane season, and on and on. But you know, she'll have a good time doing it. And hopefully we won't get any more calls from Life Alert.
