the tragic whale

On Tuesday night my Gram hurt her arm. She mysteriously tripped, fell on her back, and hurt her arm in the process. When my Dad and I got to her house, she had stroke-like symptoms and couldn’t walk so we called an ambulance.

After hours in the emergency room, an X-ray, and a CAT scan, it turned out to be a badly fractured shoulder and some wooziness from the shock/pain. I realized that she’s getting pretty old and frail so I should probably con as many stories out of her as possible. Why? Because if it didn’t happen in the last week, and doesn’t have to do with the weather, then it “didn’t happen” and she doesn’t “know anything about that.”

Yesterday she was moved into a rehab facility so she can learn how to do things with one arm, the other being in a sling. I’ve already visited her a couple of times to keep her company, make sure she’s adjusting ok, and let her know (again) that she’s only staying for a week. Not forever like she’s afraid of!

And lo and behold, she shared some memories! Coming from the woman who doesn’t “know anything about WW2″ because it “didn’t affect her,” this was a huge deal! (She worked for the telephone company during WW2 and they sent her to California for 6 months to help with the war effort. And while she was there, she got to ride a ferry. End of story.)

And now I’m going to share one with you!

“When I was a girl I had straight hair all around. In the front, on the sides, in the back. And straight bangs over my forehead. I hated it! Lorraine (younger sister), she always had wavy hair. It was beautiful. And Pauline (older sister) liked hers short in a boy’s cut. She always had a boy’s cut, she loved ‘em… yuck. But mine was straight as a pin! I would go to bed with curlers in, and the next day, in the rain, all the curls would fall right out! People would laugh at me, but I didn’t care. I didn’t like it straight.”

The real trick is that you can’t ASK for her to share something, you kind of just have to wait for it to happen. And usually it doesn’t. But I’m always glad when I can catch a snippet here or there.

What sorts of quirky habits do your grandparents have?