I believe that as a caretaker, there is always room for self doubt. For guilt and being hard on yourself. Sometimes I have to reverse my thinking. I sat with my grandmother tonight during what has become my favorite part of the day, night time pill time. I quickly give her her pills then turn…
Tag: creative nonfiction
A day in the life, 2018, and Another Month in 1940: Part Five
In the afternoons, Babu does her exercises. She reads the paper. I bring the dog down and she tells me that “she’s getting bigger!” She rests again and gets up and does her exercises again. She places her double sided sheet of instructions that are, of course, in a plastic sheet protector on the table…
A Day in the Life, 2018, and a Month in 1940: Part Four
“Dobre popowoodnew!” as she crawls from the living room after her long nap. I say good afternoon in Polish slowly, and spell it (incorrectly) even slower. She doesn’t reply but keeps making slow progress towards the bathroom. “How are ya feeling?” I ask as cheerfully as possible but I already sense, and brace myself. She…
A Day in the Life, 2018, and a Month in 1940, Part Three
After breakfast, once Babu is safely on the couch, is another span of time where I don’t need to be 100% on watch. Many aspects of this job are not that hard. Most days, Babu doesn’t need all that much and sleeps a lot. I’ve gotten into the habit of cleaning and showering during this…
April A-Z: January
Usually, when I “end one year” and “begin another” inside this project I celebrate almost as much as I do the actually changing of years. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but possibly this January, the January of 1940, deserves to start without a lot of fan fair. Here is a shock: Oh my. This hasn’t happened…
April A-Z: Insufficient sleep
You really cannot say that Babu had a wild life. She did everything a good woman of the time was supposed to do: waited until marriage, did well in her college studies, got work and was, for the most part, a very dependable employee. Even still, here is one passage I will never forget: Rumble…
April A-Z: November, 1939: Doubts
Here is an extra post for April A-Z for D. I leave this here as a record of where Babu and “Peaches” or “Cookie” or whatever sweet thing she is calling Jake, are in this moment. Yes, here is the typical Babu, doubting: Monday, November 13th, 1939 My honey took me to work this morn…
April A to Z: Dawn Dance
The first time I ever read about “Dawn Dances” was October 11th, 1937. I wrote about it in this post: A Brief History of Dance Feel free to click on that link and check out the entire post, it was a fun one! This is a snippet of what I wrote: Monday, October 11th, 1937…
April A-Z Four Hundred!!
Yes, my April A-Z is completely out of order. I’m out of order! I had to jump to “F” today because…drum roll please…this is my four hundredth post. I find that amazing. I think of the work I still have to do I think that this four hundred is a drop in the bucket and…
A-Z Challenge: Hair
Yesterday, my mother came over and together we washed and set Babu’s hair. This was my second time doing it since her hair dresser that would come to the house retired and is no longer coming. Man, I miss her. The first time, Adam took care of washing and my mother and I set her…
April A-Z: Garden
My garden is waiting. It greeted the late snow, and the snow again, as a spouse greets in laws to their home. But, the garden is more patient and willing than that. It germinates beneath the soil and sprouts bulbs and already flowers Daffodils. It says: “Hello!” on those decent, just barely decent, weather days. …
April A-Z: Alligator and a Crocodile
All year I looked forward to the April A-Z. Now it is here and right smack away I am 6 days late. It has been a very hectic time for me and my entire wardrobe has been wool suits. (To know what the means, click here: The wool Suit.) So of course I decided better…
transcribingmemory 