we are family

post number two of 2007 and i'm doing well with the title thing. (i think anyway)

my grandmother and aunt are visiting from arizona... i think i mentioned that earlier. well, wednesday, my grandma took a turn in the wrong direction - healthwise. she had caught what we all thought was a bug, but clearly it was the beginning of something more severe. friday am she was taken to a local urgent care center and then transported to a local hospital for admission. she was dehydrated, off balance body chemistry and a nasty infection. i had never seen her in quite a state of mental confusion. she's 91 years old and in all my life, she has always had all her faculties. never confused, never forgetful, never ever talking about things that clearly weren't there.

we all took turns staying in the hospital so she wouldn't be alone at anytime. her mother apparently died peacefully in a hospital shortly after admission... alone. so that's a fear of my aunt and mom. by saturday, she was improving. not 100% better, but not talking about spotted dogs being on her bed or flies buzzing around the room. that in and of itself was a HUGE improvement. to be quite honest, it scared me a little bit. i used to work with seniors who suffered from alzheimer's and dementia but my grandma wasn't ever affected by that horrible disease. and happily she is not affected by it today.

her electrolytes were out of whack. once her body got back to normal, so did her head. she came home today and although she spent most of the day in bed, she looked a WORLD better than she did in the previous days. her color had come back, as best it can for a 90 year old, and she was eating sooo much better.

my dad and i had a rather heated fight earlier this evening. while it's too painful to go into deep detail right now, suffice it to say i was informed, rather strongly, that my choices and decisions in my life are wrong. and that i'm too much of a pushover and i need to be a bully. this stems from asking HIM something earlier in the evening and i didn't get the exact result i had hoped for, but i got part of it and i was pleased. my father, was less than pleased and proceeded to let me, and most of the neighbors, know about it.

the good thing from all this is that i needed to cry. for my grandma and for myself. i guess the fight allowed me to do that. i make mistakes, sometimes everyday of the week. but they are MY mistakes and no one elses. i'm learning that slowly and i'm also learning FROM them.

i figure if i started 2007 with tears of sadness and confusion, surely i'll end 2007 with tears of joy and happiness... right?