The Family Dynamic

Pending

Written on - Not yet published to a wikizine

From: dozerbones.blogspot.com

Not much going on to write about, which is fine by me. I've been going to the internet cafe about three times a week to catch up on e-mail, blogs and pictures which I have been taking, and eat a whole lot here in the trailer. I am selling grandpa's lawn tractor for him, which has become a bit more cumbersome than I had anticipated. It's required a bit of work but I'm just about done. Now I just need a buyer...

The weather, of course, has been very hot. About every two days we get a thunderstorm. I've photographed Winter Garden and now have Orlando on my radar, though the weather is a big variable. The photos you see on this post are of my grandparents as well as their dog, Tootsie.

Grandma and Grandpa are well and happy I am staying here through the 28th. Grandma is always doing things, such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of grandpa. I try to help sometimes and she'll refuse it, which surprises me. I'll just do things to help without asking as a work-around, like vacuum, clear/set the table, or take grandpa's wheelchair in to and out of the car. It's taken me a bit to understand that she enjoys doing all of this on her own, and that for the most part, it's fun for her. I am amazed that day-in and day-out she works and works, doing things for myself and grandpa (and occasionally dad) and loves it. I love both my grandparents, but I admire my grandmother. It makes sense though: if this is who she is - a person who takes care of her husband of 62 years and lovingly prepares food and keeps a home for him and whoever may visit (such as myself), then I can understand her happiness. She knows who she is, and she embraces it.

We did not do anything outlandish for the 4th. We had a small barbecue, which was excellent, and stayed in for the most part. It's just too hot and humid to go outdoors for a long period. I thought about going somewhere but decided I would rather be here with my grandparents.

I drive them around whenever they need to run errands. Grandma can drive, but she prefers that I do the driving. Her eye is doing very well (she had cataract surgery) and her next operation for the other eye is on the 15th. I am excited to see how well it plays out for her. After she had her first eye done she says she no longer needs contacts or glasses in that eye. When all is said and done she will probably have better eyesight than I do!!

Dad has been his usual self. I do not talk much to him, but that is mostly because he refuses to wear a hearing aid and I hate having to yell everything I say to him two or three times. If he can't take the time to put in a hearing aid, then he can lumber around deaf and alienated. He comes around 2 - 3 times a day: breakfast, lunch, and if he is hungry (or needs gas money), dinner. He'll grab the phone and run outside to call one of his convict friends, or write letters to his buddy in jail, but hasn't called his own kids in years. He goes out of his way to help the lowest of people - people who steal and take advantage of him at every chance, but he doesn't lift a finger to help Jillian or Lincoln, and seldom helps his own parents. I've lost a lot of respect for him. He is not the man, or father, I knew when I was a child. I apparently lost that father when he fell off a ladder in 1987.