The Baby Syndrome

"The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old." Proverbs 20:29

I talked with my spunky 95 year old Grandma today.
She's truly remarkable in ways I can only hope to glean.
She was bemoaning the fact that while she can't completely explain it, she misses living on her own.

A recent fall where she smashed her head on the oven door has "aged her" and motivated my Aunt to move her closer to her reach. Now, displaced from her sweet church, the trusty Suburban, a kitchen stocked with her pans, and the commissary at the Army base where she could buy her bread and prescriptions...she feels lost. And even though she plays piano for two praise and worship services, she just doesn't get out like she used to.
Not to mention, the Assisted Living Chef doesn't know"diddly squat" about food. Her runny eggs and breakfast sausage are the highlight of her day. Besides her well done pork patty, she would rather starve then eat his tasteless, flaccid vegetables. And the food committee she has formed can't seem to rally change.
She mourns her old friends who knew what true Scrabble competition meant and can't believe her insurance sends people to help her bathe and make her bed. TWO things she does well, simply enjoys, and tells them so.

To sum it up, she's lost her independence. The life she has known is over.

I told her I couldn't relate more.