Grandma

As I sit here on this last Sunday of March, a couple of things are going through my mind.  I'm thinking about this terrible Thomas Pynchon essay I wrote (which I don't want to look at anymore), baseball season starting, my friends, but the thing I'm thinking about most is my grandma.

Don't get the wrong idea.  My grandma hasn't passed on or anything, but she's been through a lot the past few months, breaking her hip when she fell down in February. I cried when I heard the news, and feared the worst considering her age (90 years old), but when I received the phone call with the news from my parents, she was alright; she just needed hip surgery, which she successfully got.

When I first visited her after the operation, it was at a rehab clinic in Brookline, MA.  I had no problem with the facility overall since the people there were nice, and very helpful, but I couldn't stand it.  Seeing so many elderly needing help was tough to watch, and I've had my own rough encounters with hospitals and clinics, so I know what it's like.  My grandma was cheerful when I saw her, which brought a smile to my face, but that quickly disappeared when I saw that she was in a wheelchair.  I know many elderly need wheelchairs and walkers to get around (my grandma even has one), but I was not used to seeing her in one, so hurt and so vulnerable.  The worst part was that because I speak limited Chinese, I couldn't say much to her, but she still understood what I was saying, and was glad I came in the first place.

That was the only time I've visited my grandma since I've been busy with school.  Recently though, I just learned that because of my grandma's injury, she will be staying with us at home temporarily (though, who knows how long that could be).  I can see how there are some disadvantages to that, but I'm glad she's staying with us because we can look after her, and I've missed her the past few years. I haven't been able to see my grandma much since she moved out of the house, so I'm glad she'll be close by, and I can be there for her because I love her, and wouldn't want anything bad to ever happen to her.  I've always thought that, but this experience opened my eyes to how real things can be.