The Woman Behind The Woman

I got to spend some time yesterday with my grandmother. She was a hand-full to deal with the entire time I was with her. I tend to spend a lot my time (when I am with her) just watching her... her actions... her posture… her movements… she just seems a little “off-balanced” these days. Almost like her body is leaning physically a little too far to the left. The skin around her eyes seems really red and her other facial skin seems very pale. Her eyes are clouded and her legs and feet don’t move her around too well. Her clothes and hair are unkempt and her little bit of make-up missed the mark. And I just stare. It is so hard to see her like this… I take her out in public and people that we run into all tell her how good she looks… and I just stare in wonder at their words. Her words in conversation never cease to amaze me…the things she remembers, the things she doesn’t. She can half-way carry a conversation with one of her oldest friends for 5-10 minutes and then ask me after they leave who they are… She cannot see the mess she leaves behind in bathroom or on the dresser when she finishes putting on her face, but she can spot a penny on the ground while walking by (and always conveniently when a car is approaching!). She makes it so difficult for me when I order her food or fix her plate and then she destroys the plate, the table, her chair and the floor below with it while trying to eat the food before her. Her nose is ALWAYS running! She is the Kleenex queen…always carry extras when with her. And finally, she is always humped over and yet cannot understand why she is always falling over… balance, grasshopper… But, even with all of that said, I would not trade her for any thing in the world! I mean she is the woman behind this woman…