The Greatest Generation

Last week was constructive. I finished painting my office, cleaned the entire house and raked leaves two days in a row. Sounds exhilarating, I know.
I had to prepare my home for Rachel's arrival Wednesday night. We enjoyed her for several days, and I enjoyed meeting Grandma Barnes for the first time last week.
We visited with Nana and drove to see Grandma Barnes in the nursing home. I've always been scared, I guess you could say, of nursing homes. The last time I went to visit a relative, I was only about 10 years old. I still remember the smells, the sounds and how it felt to walk down the halls. As we walked through the heavy, automatic locking doors, I watched the patients as they sat in their wheelchair's and crept slowly on their walkers. I thought to myself, I pray and hope that I never have to stay in a nursing home when I am their age. As a young child, I couldn't understand why or how these people had to stay in this "home"...what did they do to come here? Growing older introduces you to the grim reality of aging...and what it almost always entails. Things happen. Things we can't control and things we don't want to ever think about. This is why and how these people are in these "homes".

Grandma was in great spirits and kept us laughing. We had a nice visit with her and she shared our opinions about "homes" in general. I just hope that when and if I make it to her age, I'll be a pistol just like her.

As we left, I thought about all the residents and patients...the "greatest generation"...the ones who survived the great depression, two world wars and numerous conflicts, an atomic bomb, the dust bowl, Pearl Harbor, and countless other events that have shaped and scarred our world. They were all my age once.
They are all beautiful, I have a lot of respect for them and I love to hear their stories. They are by far the best storytellers...on the way home Nana recalled several childhood memories as we drove by old homeplaces and abandoned grocery stores.

It's funny how this week just happened to be the week of Veteran's Day. We have so many friends and relatives in nursing homes right now. Many of them are veterans. "Preacher", one of our longtime family friends, stormed the beach at Normandy. He taught me how to shoot a 12 gauge, he taught me how to fish...he was a third grandpa to me and my brother. Now he's far away in a nursing home.

So here's to the greatest generation. We love you!