And Then Life Got in the Way

I told myself I would be a "good blogger." I would blog consistently, I would post pretty pictures, and I would post content that people would enjoy. But then life got in the way. 

Since my last post, exactly a month ago, things have gotten extremely busy. I was past syllabus week at school, and things that I forgot how to do, like study, started happening. I got a second job that now puts me at working about thirty hours a week. My family moved to North Dakota, which has made me quite sad.

I have been struggling with even wanting to blog, but I remembered how much I genuinely enjoy it. I enjoy taking the time to remember the great things that have happened, and I even enjoy looking back on the not-so-great things and how I can learn from them. I enjoy interacting with other bloggers, through comments on my own posts and me commenting on other bloggers' posts.

So here is to catching up, one post at a time!

When I was staying with my grandparents in California we ended up going through about seven boxes of all of their old picture slides. Grandpa set up the projector, and for a week we sat down and looked at all their pictures. There were some of my mom and aunt when they were babies, but most of them were from all their travels once my mom and aunt were out of the house. It was fun to see all the pictures of my mom and aunt with different boys...ha! My grandparents lived in Germany for a year and I absolutely loved looking at all the pictures from that time. One of my favorite pictures, though, was of my grandma and grandpa when they were newly married. I cannot tell you how happy it made my heart to see a candid photo of them in a snowball fight with each other, smiling and so in love. My grandma told me that they probably hadn't looked at those photos in years, and it made me so happy to sit there with them as the reminisced about their adventures together.

California Livin'

If you read this post then you know that I am staying with my grandparents in California right now. Even though I am here to help them out I have been enjoying this time between work and school. It has been really nice to talk with my grandparents - about how they grew up, about how they met, my mom's childhood, and even my early childhood. Even though I'm "on duty" 24-7, I have gotten a lot of time to relax by reading and tanning by the pool. I have been here for a week and I have gotten into a routine...one that I definitely can't complain about!

.*I was outside reading and my grandpa came out and asked me if I could "stand a margarita." Why yes grandpa, yes I can.

8:00am - Wake up time! Even though my grandma usually gets up before this time, it's around now that she makes coffee and wants breakfast. So Emily to the rescue! ;) Mainly she just needs someone to carry over her coffee to the table, and then help getting all the things she needs for breakfast.

10:00am - By this time we are all either sitting in the living room reading our books or I am out in the backyard tending to the garden. On Sunday I spent a good two hours or so outside watering all the plants. She has tomato plants, citrus trees, and flowers galore!

Although this is a tiring feat, I am loving it. It definitely helps that I'm able to do all this outside work in 70 degree weather instead of 100. I'm thinking that I want a lot of flowers blooming in my future home...and might even make it my semester project to plant some flowers in my college home!

And then this happened:

She wanted me to do some trimming of this plant so I went out with the little garden trimmers I had used before and she told me where to cut. While I was behind the bush she disappeared and came back with these ginormous clippers. You have to admit it's quite comical...my grandma in a leg brace with her walker, but using these clippers to cut her plants out front. That's what I call dedication!

12:00pm - Lunch time! We usually just have a sandwich and chips and depending on the weather we'll go outside to eat. Nothing too fancy, but it's just another nice time we get to chat.

2:00pm - It is around this time that I suit up and head for the pool. Before my aunt left she made sure I knew how to set up the rafts so that I could lay out and read in the pool. It is glorious. But because I have #whitegirlprobs I try to only stay out for about 30 minutes. I'm trying to just get a darker shade of white, not tomato red here. ;) So it's about an hour total tanning the back and front and getting my read on.

*I'm proud of myself because it only took me three tries to get this picture. But then my grandpa came out and asked me if I wanted him to take my picture and now I'm embarrassed.*

5:00pm - Dinner time! Can you tell I get excited about the times when food is involved??? 5 o' clock is a little early for me to be eating dinner, but what the grandparents want, the grandparents get! I don't do anything too fancy. My aunt said for dinner it's "meat, vegetable, salad." I can handle that! Grandma likes to feel helpful so she'll make the salad as I prepare the rest. Grandpa likes to have a glass of wine every evening with dinner and when he offers a glass to me, I only slightly hesitate. ;)

7:00pm - By this time we are all seated in our comfy chairs in the living room watching the news. I have to say, I never knew the news could be quite so interesting! We watch the 5 o' clock news; local and world news! After that we watch jeopardy. At first we were watching kid's week which was grand because I could at least answer some of the questions! Or is it question some of the answers... But then we got into the grown up stuff, and the only answer question I knew was "What is Doctor Who?" Figures. Then we'll either watch more TV, play a game, or read until bed time.

10:00pm - This is my "me" time when at least grandma is in bed and I hit the weights! Okay, not really. They have a bike that I have been riding for a few miles every night and then I do a tone it up work out. It may not be much, but it makes me feel good!

12:00am - Sleep..........and then repeat!

I could honestly see myself being a caregiver. 18 more days of this!!

To Be A Blessing

Right now I am sitting in a bed that is not my bed, but will be my bed for the next three and half weeks. I am staying with my grandparents in California, but it's not necessarily a family vacation. Let me backtrack just a little bit...

The job that I had as an advocate for a girl with special needs at a summer camp was scheduled to be 10.5 weeks of the summer. That is a long time but by the time it was to end it still left me with three full weeks of summer before school started. I had never known exactly what I would do with those three weeks.

Should I go back home? Should I try to find another job? Should I try to shadow an OT? Should I fly up to North Dakota to see my dad and brother?

I had a lot of options, but I never actually considered coming to California.

That was until a couple weekends ago when I went home to visit with my mama who had just come back from North Dakota and she told me about what was going on with my grandparents (her parents). My aunt (my mom's sister), her husband, and her two boys were visiting my grandparents from Oregon and had decided one day to go to the aquarium. I guess my grandma had different plans because they didn't quite make it to the aquarium...walking from the car to the building, my grandma didn't see a curb and ended up falling and breaking her knee cap (patella for all you nerds (; ). After going to the doctor and finding this out, they scheduled the surgery, and were told that she would have to have a walker/wheel chair and would have to keep the leg completely straight for at least a few weeks. My uncle and cousins drove back to Oregon, and my aunt Lee Anne stayed behind to help around the house; but she couldn't stay forever since she had to go back to work. Her and my mom were going through their options of who would stay there, if they could get help from the neighbors, etc.

I jokingly said "Well after work I can just fly up there." But then realized that I could actually do that!

There were a few in between details such as having to take off work earlier than expected and buying the plane tickets, but now, here I am!

I'm really excited to be staying up here with them. They are getting older and I am really happy to have the opportunity to spend such a long amount of time with them, and to be a blessing to them.

My grandpa is hard of hearing and if my grandparents were in different parts of the house and my grandma needed help, he would not be able to hear her. She has her cute purple walker and can get around for the most part by herself, but it's the small things like bringing the food to the table and such that she needs help with. My aunt has been here since I got here on Tuesday but she is leaving today and then I will be on my own to help take care of the house and my grandparents. I am a little nervous, but I think once I get into the swing of things it will be alright.

I do believe that there is no such thing as a true selfless good deed (as FRIENDS so wonderfully taught me), and being able to help my grandparents does make me feel good; it makes me so happy that I can be a blessing to them at this time. But I also think this is one of those experiences where even though I am helping them, they are also blessing me with this time together.