Sad phone call...

I just got off the phone with my mom a little while ago. I guess my grandmother in Wisconsin isn't doing very well. She's been in a nursing home for over a year and she's been slowly going downhill every week. Mom just saw her yesterday and said she's the worst she's ever been. Grandma is in the early stages of Parkinson's disease and wasn't been able to walk on her own for a long time now. She's been upset that she has to call people to come and help her do the simplest things. Now, I guess, she's having trouble swallowing so they have to puree all her food so she can eat. It seems that every month, one more thing we all take for granted is taken away from her. She's told mom that she's ready to go. She's done everything she needed to do here and she wants to go be with Papa. According to her, "this isn't living". I'm going to try to make a trip up to Wisconsin in February. Since I've started working every 4th Sunday at work, I get a Friday off to make up for it. I'll probably fly out Thursday night to Mom's and then we'll drive up and see Grandma. The only problem with that is February in Northern Wisconsin can be pretty snowy but Mom's boyfriend Ken said he'd get us up there if the weather is bad. So, I guess we just have to wait and see what happens.

Here are some pictures of my grandparents. Papa passed away almost 10 years ago. They had been married 55 years.









Papa and Grandma on their wedding day in 1941.
















At their 50th wedding anniversary in 1991.