Spring has finally arrived in Iowa. The melting snow and returning sunshine have brought to our attention, the dirty windows in the front our house. "Add it to the list..." DH says, referring to our never ending 'to do' list, though I knew it wouldn't be high priority.
Yesterday was a beautiul day. It was 60 degrees outside and the sunlight was streaming through the dirty windows.... well, it was streaming through two dirty windows - and a sparkling clean one.
G: What do you think of my window? Doesn't it look nice? (She's referring to the window next to her chair... the only one no longer covered in a yucky winter muck.)
Me: What happened? Did you clean the windows?
G: Just this one.... So I could see out.
Me: Did you find the window cleaner?
G: No, I just used some wet towels and rubbed it.
DH: We had cleaner right there in the kitchen.
G: I managed. The outside was harder. I had to get a step stool.
Me: Mom! You shouldn't be on a step stool.
G: I had to stand on one to get the screen out.
DH: You didn't need to take out the screen...
G: I did if I wanted to get the window clean.
DH and I look at each other and say nothing. What's to say? Some people see things that need to be done - Grandma just does them.
G: I just love my window....
One evening a couple weeks ago, Grandma told me she had lost her glasses. Since she was wearing them, I asked what I thought was the obvious question:
Me: Where did you find them?
G: I haven't found them yet.
Me: Mom, you have your glasses on...
G: Oh, these aren't my regular glasses, this is another pair I found in my purse.
Me: But they look exactly like your regular glasses... and when did you get a second pair?
G: Well, they are quite similar... but this part here is different (she points to the bows).
I look closely at the bows.... and the frames in general. These look like the only pair of glasses I've known her to have in the past couple years.... and the pair before these were easily recognizable because she had duct tape on the frames. (I mean, why would you want to get your glasses fixed when they are being held together perfectly with duck tape?)
I gently try to dissuade her from both the notion that her glasses are lost AND that she's wearing a spare pair. But forget that.
For the next several minutes, Grandma presents an argument that would sway any jury. She tells me word for word, what the eye doctor has "just" told her "with regard" to differentiating between the two pair. I sit silent, trying to take it in ... all the while knowing Grandma hasn't been to the eye doctor in over a year. She has ONE pair of glasses... and she has them on.
A few days later, I asked Grandma if she had found her glasses yet. "Yes, yes I did," she says happily. I didn't ask where she found them... or when. It took everything in me NOT to ask to see the spare pair of glasses - even under the pretense of 'comparing' the bows. For whatever reason, Grandma imagined losing one pair of glasses and finding another ... it's just another one of those "things" that we're getting used to.
No matter really. Grandma has her glasses. She has a clean window to look out. Spring has arrived. Life is good.
So ends Episode 15
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