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Family holidays
May. 9th, 2005 10:54 pmIt feels like spring has finally come to Toronto. I spent the entire weekend in sandals, and it was lovely. On Saturday, I went with B down to Kensington Market where we picked up some vegetables, and then headed back to his place where we made ratatouille and I introduced him to the first couple of episodes of "Buffy." He claims to like it, but we'll see if he's actually willing to watch it again.
I spent Sunday with my mother, siblings, and my mother's parents. My grandather is somewhere in the early middle stages of Alzheimer's, and it's both interesting and sad talking to him. His short term memory is very limited now, and he can't follow converations very well. Thus, when he speaks, it's mostly about the past. He was rarely inclined to speak of the past before, so most of what he says now is new (and sociologist and wanna-be social historian that I am, fascinating) to me. (I did not, for example, know before that his mother used to do daily work for the wealthy of Rosedale.) But it's also terrible watching this man who took such pride in his competence slowly lose his ability to do anything at all. And I noticed this past weekend that as he gets worse, some of his more negative traits are slowly becoming stronger. For many years, he was a man who raised himself by putting down others (humourously, for the audience). I've noticed that he seems to be returning to that, making multiple comments about how "s/he's one of our brighter ones"--a favourite phrase of his from my mother's childhood. It's also a terrible thing to watch.
I spent Sunday with my mother, siblings, and my mother's parents. My grandather is somewhere in the early middle stages of Alzheimer's, and it's both interesting and sad talking to him. His short term memory is very limited now, and he can't follow converations very well. Thus, when he speaks, it's mostly about the past. He was rarely inclined to speak of the past before, so most of what he says now is new (and sociologist and wanna-be social historian that I am, fascinating) to me. (I did not, for example, know before that his mother used to do daily work for the wealthy of Rosedale.) But it's also terrible watching this man who took such pride in his competence slowly lose his ability to do anything at all. And I noticed this past weekend that as he gets worse, some of his more negative traits are slowly becoming stronger. For many years, he was a man who raised himself by putting down others (humourously, for the audience). I've noticed that he seems to be returning to that, making multiple comments about how "s/he's one of our brighter ones"--a favourite phrase of his from my mother's childhood. It's also a terrible thing to watch.
