My grandparents have been married for the past 63 years. Having been married so long, they had always discussed that when one of them was "no longer capable of wiping their own butt" (their words, not mine), they would both take a hefty handful of sleeping pills, share a bottle of good wine and go to sleep in each others' arms, leaving the world behind them.
My grandfather is 87 years old. While he's still sharp as a tack, my grandmother, at 82, is not so lucky. Just over three years ago, she started showing signs of Alzheimer's. At first it was little things... But then it got worse. At first, they hid it from the family. Then, when it became too much, my grandfather took things into his own Parkinson trembling hands.He wrote his sons a good bye email, which arrived much too fast. Both he and my grandmother were saved.
She spent the last three years in a retirement home, forgetting who we are, closing herself off from the outside world. She's stopped talking and visiting her has become extremely difficult for me.
My grandfather, who was held responsible, has spent the last three years in prison for attempted murder. I stayed by him through out the entire time, visiting him, trying to make the time pass as easily as possible. But nothing I could do or say could keep him from staying obsessed with my grandmother. He'd call her multiple times a day, checking up on her. He'd talk about how he wants to take care of her when he gets released, never an eye witness to how bad she's been deteriorating.
Yesterday, 2 years, 11 months and 7 days after he was originally imprisoned, he was supposed to be released. Unfortunately, his heart has been causing problems and the stress of his impending release probably didn't help much. A few days ago, he was hospitalized in poor health. Thankfully, he was still released from the prison system, although he remains hospitalized.
Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from Oded, who said he's been sharing a prison room with my grandfather for the last year. Oded called me to see how my grandfather has been doing and to make sure he was released from prison. This person, whom I've never met, called me because he's heard about me and knew I cared about my grandfather and frequently came to visit him. He told me how much my grandfather talked about my grandmother. No big surprise here. Like I said, my grandfather is obsessed with my grandmother. But what touched me is that my grandfather had also talked about me, too. Furthermore, I was touched by the fact that Oded cared enough about my grandfather to find my number and call me up to inquire about a man he'll probably never see again...
