Old Age

My posts have been a bit thin on the ground lately because I've been away "oop north" with my Mother. She's on the last furlong, so to speak. It's not the being old that bothers her, it's the "not being able to do "things".

"This is no bloody game, this old age thing. I can't do anything."

"Why, what do you want to do?"

"Any damn thing. I never thought I'd come to this!"

The thing that riles her is that all of the women in her family are very long lived. Her mother was 98 when she died. Her Grandmother was also 98. A couple of her aunts were over 95 when they died.

She then went on to recount a story about her grandmother [my great grandma Greenwwod] and her daughter, my Mothers Aunt Nell [my great aunt].

Nell lived nextdoor to her mother so as to be near to her in old age. Somebody, I don't recall who she said it was, had called to see great grandma Greenwood and, having knocked on the door, received no reply. Fearing the worst they went into the house and found her standing on a set of step ladders wallpapering the living room [this was about three months before she died]. Fearing for her safety, they went next door and told Nell what her mother was up to.

"Oh, has she not finished it yet? I thought she would have started doing the staircase by now."

Apparently great grandma G knew she was "going" and wanted the house looking its best for her funeral!

It's that sort of thing that erks my mother. Her being a wee strip of a thing of 84!