This weekend, I went to visit my maternal grandparents, who live over 200 miles away in Essex. They're getting quite frail now so haven't come to visit us for a few years (although they never came up here regularly because of the logistics of not driving etc) but we drive down for weekends quite a lot (every 6 weeks or so). My Grandad's now 89 (he'll be 90 next month!) and my Grandma's 83 (I think!), so both of them are beginning to struggle with getting to the shops and things - Dad's going to start doing tesco orders for them online, so Grandma gave us a list of the brands of groceries she usually buys and is going to ring to ask us to send of for them when she needs them :) I think it's an idea that could work well!
We usually travel down on a Friday night, sleep over, then come back on Saturday night so we have a day to do work etc, but this time I really wanted to go to Unite on Friday (which was really good) so we went yesterday (Saturday) morning and came back this afternoon instead. The journey on the way was good, although we had to leave at 7:30am, a time that should not exist unless you haven't been to sleep yet! (not that I ever really stay up - it just sounds good :P ) I listened to my iPod, read a magazine etc and the 4 hours passed relatively quickly!
When we arrived we had a cup of tea, then decided that the loft needed to be sorted out - upon asking what was in there, Grandma said they hadn't looked since they got back from Australia!! (they were in Australia from 1961 to 1965 haha) As I was the smallest and youngest I had to climb the ladder, stand on Dad's shoulder and hoist myself into the loft - not too pleasant an experience to be honest (dusty, the air tasted funny and freezing cold!) I felt like a bit of a ninja though (:P), sitting on one side of the opening and wedging myself there with my legs! I pulled out some extremely vintage suitcases and boxes of toys and searching through them was really interesting :). However, after I'd managed to get down (pretty scary jumping onto the ladder!) I came out in a really itchy, sore rash on my arms and hands which we've later realised must have been from the loft insulation, which I tried not to touch but did a bit because I had to put my hands under the cases to lift them up... The rash is still there a bit but seems to be clearing up now :)
After the loft adventure, Mum and I took Grandma to Tesco (part of the routine) and I did my OCD with the trolley organisation, bag packing and car filling helping job :). This morning we had a nice fry up cooked by Grandma and left at around 11:30am (I watched 'Music and Lyrics' (yummm Hugh Grant) in the car, got a caramel latte from the services and listened to my iPod)
It was a nice weekend, despite all the travelling. It's only recently I've started to properly appreciate my grandparents for people, rather than just my lovely grandparents - especially my Grandma. A couple of years ago she had cancer, had an operation and chemotherapy and very nearly died. She thankfully recovered, but has been diagnosed with cancer again very recently, apparently it's spread to her chest wall and the prognosis isn't good. My dad said she might not be here next Christmas but I don't want to think about that because she's the relative I'm closest to except for my parents and such a lovely, lovely person.
I think my Grandma is the person in the family most like me - I see so much of myself in her! (even though it should probably be the other way around..) That sounds like I'm being really vain now having said she's so lovely but I have some of her faults as well as a couple of her qualities. We share a similar sense of humour, and she hates confrontation and tries to see the good in people as well. I really, really want her to be okay :( she starts radiotherapy on Thursday so I hope it works!
I'm going to go to get ready for my work experience next week (doing a prospective medical student programme at Warrington Hospital) - I need to decide on an outfit for tomorrow and make sure I have everything I need.
<3 xx
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