Laugh and Cry

Many of you have heard of a dear lady in our lives that we refer to as Memaw.  Memaw is "bless her heart" precious.  In case you don't know the language of East Texas, that means that Memaw is a good person who loves my children more than life itself, but she can drive me insane!

We've been trying to make it to Longview to see Memaw since early February.  Remember that day I vomited in Chad's truck...yep, supposed to go see Memaw.  Remember that weekend Kennedy had the flu...yep, supposed to go see Memaw.  So, I decided that while we were out of school for spring break, we'd have Memaw over to our house for a night.  Based on my desire to sleep and some already scheduled appointments, I strategically scheduled Memaw's visit for a night/morning when I knew I had to have the dog to the groomer at 7:30 AM.  Yes, without fail, Memaw is up and ready to love the kids to death by 7AM.

So, Monday afternoon the girls and I went to Longview to pick up Memaw from her apartment with the intentions of her spending one night.  The older girls wanted to go to the movies, so we were going to do that Tuesday when we returned Memaw back to Longview.  But, as we were leaving, she told her sweet neighbor that she would be back on Wednesday, Thursday, or even Friday.  Uh...really?  Well, OK.  We can compromise with Wednesday.  I had no intentions of spending my entire spring break entertaining Memaw.  Well, mostly I had no intentions of getting up at the crack of dawn every day of my spring break.

So, Monday evening we all had great fun.  Blake LOVES Memaw.  It took Blake all of about five minutes to realize that if she even thinks she might whimper in the next three seconds that Memaw will pick her up and talk to her.  Tuesday, I took Blake to preschool with Mimi, left Kennedy and Taylor home with Memaw, and took myself to the dentist.  On the way home, I decided that we could go to the zoo.  I called home to tell the girls to get dressed and be ready to go so we'll have plenty of time for the zoo.

When I got home, I was surprised to see that Memaw was ready to go AND had gathered her belongings.  Here's our conversation

Memaw:  I thought that you could just take me home today and save yourself a trip tomorrow.

Me: I thought we were going to the zoo.

Memaw:  Kennedy said the zoo is in Tyler. 

Me:  It is.  Am I taking you to back to Tyler (because she's got her things and Chad's parents live in Tyler)?

Memaw:  Well, I just thought that after the zoo you could take me home so you wouldn't have to make a special trip tomorrow.

Me:  Are you going to Ann and Richard's?

Memaw:  (quite irritated) I just thought it would save you a trip to take me home today.

Me:  Memaw, you don't live in Tyler.

Memaw:  Where do I live?

Me:  Longview

Memaw:  Oh, I don't even know where I live anymore

Obviously Memaw has some memory issues going on.  Yes, she is taking medicine.  Yes, she is safe where she lives.  Yes, she did live in Tyler before she moved to Longview three years ago. 

Now, I'm not making fun of Memaw, but you have no idea how funny this experience really was.  She is the same Memaw who walks around my house with the "white glove" attitude.  She continuously cleans, sweeps, picks, pokes, and drives me up the wall.  She tells the same stories over and over again.  She is "bless her heart" precious.  You can't help but love her, but she can make you CRAZY! 

As a family, we laughed about this experience with Memaw.  The alternative was to cry because it really is sad.  But, in the big picture, Memaw is 84 years old and manages to take care of herself, love her family, and nourish a thriving friendship with a sweet neighbor.  If I can still do all that at 84 and I don't drive a car, who cares if I can't remember the name of the town where I live?