A walk down Tonset Road....

I stayed with my grandparents tonight so my parents could go to church together. How hard can this be, right? I mean, I know that it's [understandably!] stressful for my mom when she's with them around the clock; but I'm just looking after them for three hours-- max.

We only had two little crises (is that an oxymoron-- little + crises??). Pop-Pop choked once-- this isn't very abnormal because he has Parkinson's, but it's still really scary for me every time. Once we recovered from that spell, all was well for a bit. The three of us sat on the front porch and Gramarie and I worked on a crossword puzzle while Pop-Pop dozed in his rocking chair. But when he woke up, he just wasn't himself. He was half-asleep-- seemingly unable to open his eyes; definitely unable to put together coherent sentences. And he kept shaking. Gramarie was worried, and kept telling me to "do something," which didn't make me feel any calmer about the whole thing. Between the two of us, we finally got him into bed, where he fell asleep immediately and slept until just before my parents got home.

The whole episode was another painful reminder that he's failing, and failing fast. Even just over the three days I've been here, we've seen a drastic change in his health. Tonight made me think about how different he is from the Pop-Pop we used to visit in his house on the Cape; and it made me realize how much I don't want to forget the chipper Pop-Pop of days gone by. I don't want to forget that Pop-Pop once had healthier, happier days....

I remember--
how he always liked to walk down Tonset Road to the Town Cove. 2 miles roundtrip, and he would walk it every day.
how he always met with his best friend ("Uncle Ken" to us) for coffee and a donut on Wednesday mornings.
playing mini-golf with him after a day at the beach... and how he'd tell me not to be so impatient when I took my shots, but to take the time to aim!
when he came to our Montville house to help with all the painting during the house project.
how much pride he took in his lawn, his garden, and especially those gorgeous hydrangeas!
his deep and sincere love for chocolate ice cream. For anything chocolate, really; but especially ice cream.
how he made the best Manhattans in the world.
going clamming with him at Asa's Landing.
how he loved all of us grandkids, but how Steve was always clearly his favorite little buddy.
going into NYC with him to see the Rockefeller Tree-- I think it was the last trip he made to New York.
how much he loved to read; he would devour books!
loving listening to his stories about the war.
his laugh-- and his twinkling blue eyes.
his infamous sandwiches-- to this day when someone in our family makes or wants a good sandwich, we call it a "Pop-Pop sandwich."
long car rides with him and Gramarie, when they would meet my parents half way in Connecticut so we could spend a week or so with them on the Cape (one summer I spent a whole month!).
his love of all things Cape Cod-- especially that daily walk down Tonset Road to the cove.