dakota.morrison
{2/365} Loving & Losing Her
.
We've been losing Grandma for years. Stroke, after stroke. None large enough to stop her pain, all perfectly placed to pull her further and futher away from us and into her ailing body. Her brain has become a sharply divided territory. Her ability to communicate has been reduced to frustrated cries and nonsensical half-sentences. And though she rarely spoke Italian in her adult life, now she ocassionally comes out with near-perfect sentences in her mother's tongue. (Although I know there must be a neurological explanation for this phenomenon, I like to think that my great-grandmother, a woman she cherished & admired, is whispering comfort to her. Nothing the rest of us says seems to help much.)
She no longer reliably knows my name, but the sight of my face still brings a smile to hers. And when I tears started to roll down my cheeks, she sighed & said, "I know." A clarion moment in an otherwise tortured visit.
We lost her a long time ago, but we've never stopped loving her. I know we'll never get her back, so I just hope she finds peace soon.
(for Rose Civita, with love & hope. I long to hear your laughter.)
02-Dec-2008
Blogged at Pieces of the Picture (by Tommy Peterson). Please take a moment to visit.
{2/365} Loving & Losing Her
.
We've been losing Grandma for years. Stroke, after stroke. None large enough to stop her pain, all perfectly placed to pull her further and futher away from us and into her ailing body. Her brain has become a sharply divided territory. Her ability to communicate has been reduced to frustrated cries and nonsensical half-sentences. And though she rarely spoke Italian in her adult life, now she ocassionally comes out with near-perfect sentences in her mother's tongue. (Although I know there must be a neurological explanation for this phenomenon, I like to think that my great-grandmother, a woman she cherished & admired, is whispering comfort to her. Nothing the rest of us says seems to help much.)
She no longer reliably knows my name, but the sight of my face still brings a smile to hers. And when I tears started to roll down my cheeks, she sighed & said, "I know." A clarion moment in an otherwise tortured visit.
We lost her a long time ago, but we've never stopped loving her. I know we'll never get her back, so I just hope she finds peace soon.
(for Rose Civita, with love & hope. I long to hear your laughter.)
02-Dec-2008
Blogged at Pieces of the Picture (by Tommy Peterson). Please take a moment to visit.