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Many Christians and non-Christians are anticipating the coming of Easter week to celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I can’t help but to reflect on my growing up and what Easter Sunday meant to our family; new church clothes, attending church, Easter egg hunt, Easter dinner and great fellowship. As I think about that rich family tradition, I am equally saddened as I think about my grandmother’s aging process. Therefore, I decided to demonstrate my reflection on Easter by borrowing excerpts from my book, Ma, Ma, Um Sweatin.

 

“Ma-Ma was aging fast. Her asthma attacks and other ailments from old age were taking their toll on her. She would tell me that the attacks were more frequent and severe. Also, I could tell that she was not eating very well. She still did not want to stay with anyone. I made a special trip to talk to her about moving to a town about fifteen miles away from where her sisters lived. She agreed that would be best. She asked me to find her a place. Even thought I lived out the state, I told her that I would find her a good place.
When I was young, I thought there was nothing that Ma-Ma could not do. Now that she was old, she thought there was nothing that I could not do. I started searching for a place suitable and safe for the elderly with the Department of Social Services (DSS) in the town that Ma-Ma would be moving to. Within a couple of weeks, I found a place. The only hitch was that Ma-Ma would be placed on a wait list for an available unit.

I called her and gave her the news. She was happy and said, “I knew you would find your old grandma a place.”

I told her that I would be coming back to take her to look at the place to see how well she liked it. Surprisingly, before I planned my trip, I was called by the DSS and told that a place had become available. These places did not stay totally occupied long because the clients were old and in varying degrees of transient states to nursing homes, hospitals, and funeral homes. Most of them had lived long lives despite their many years of hard work, low income, and improper health care. Most of the elderly used home remedies unless it was a matter of life and death. Just like Ma-Ma, God had blessed most of them to live beyond three scores and ten years.

I made the trip back alone. Ma-Ma was waiting for me as usual on the porch with her apron on and pump and pistol in her lap. She seemed a lot more subdued this time. I thought that perhaps it was because she was leaving her home, land and familiar surroundings that had been her life for eighty some years. When she did not get up, I knew it was more than that. She hugged my neck while she was sitting in her chair. It was a stronger grip around my neck than I had anticipated. I started to sweat because I was thinking that this might be Ma-Ma’s last hug---a death hug………

The following day we visited the low-income unit for her. It was nice and had the most needed conveniences. It was close to her two sisters and the hospital. She never said she liked it, but she did say it would pacify her………I made all the arrangements before I left………

Visit a senior for Easter!

The excerpt above was from page 38 ~ from the chapter, Aging, from the book by DeRay Cole about his grandmother.