So It Goes

For them to have grandparents, aged 95, 94, 92 and 88 is par for the course. Further, to have them active, engaged and independent is expected.

Then dementia set in. I can say now that my husband’s family never really got me. So I whisper to you that I rather enjoyed those last few years of dementia. I enjoyed my mother-in-law telling my husband that “she seems like a nice girl”. I enjoyed her clutching at my hand, smiling.  I enjoyed our laughing over nothing much.

Because at the end of the day, whatever she thought about me, I truly liked her.  My mother-in-law was a caterer by profession and it is because of her that I enjoy such wonderful meals every day (and an excess of weight).  My husband was inspired by her craft in the kitchen.

I think of her and I think of her sewing and making crafty things for the house.  I think of her love for fashion and how she would shop in the city once a week, picking up clothes and jewellery and under-quoting the price tag to a husband who had no clue about the cost of a well dressed wife.

I think about her giggly little laugh when she had a few champagnes too many at family celebrations.  I remember celebrating the good times at our place. Most of all, I remember her as Nana – a Nana to our four children who took her presence in their childhood as a fact of life.

- Linda Muller