Twice in the space of an hour that morning, she called me to tell me that she had moved. She didn't want me going to the old apartment. The first call made sense, I hadn't been to her new place yet. She made the second call 30 minutes later because she had already forgotten she made the first call. No trouble - it is just pare for the course with Gram.
At the hair appointment, the lady cutting her hair asked her if she had bumped her head recently. Gram said that she had been in a car accident. I about came out of my seat! After much questioning for clarification, it turns out that the car accident to which she was referring occurred before she gave up driving (almost 10 years ago). Have I mentioned that Gram's 88-years-old yet?
After the hair appointments, we headed for her favorite chinese restaurant. Over lunch we discussed any shopping she might need to do. She stated that the only thing she needed to look at was a new towel rack. I needed to pick up contacts at Sears. She said she would look there first.
Upon arrival at Sears, we headed into the first floor entrance. The optical department is on the first floor, towels are on the second floor. At the escalator, I told her where the towels were on the second floor and offerred to go look for towel racks and then pick up the contacts on the way out. Gram said she'd head up while I went for the contacts and then I could just meet her up there.
At this point, a small warning light went off in my head. I really didn't want her to go by herself. But I didn't want to insult her by treating her like a child. I agreed that I would be right up to meet her in towels. I placed her on the escalator and headed for the optical department. Less than five minutes later, I was on the escalator and headed for towels.
Gram was not in the towels. At just over five feet tall, she's a little hard to find in the store. I looked through the entire section just in case. No Gram.
I asked the clerk if he had seen a little old lady looking for a towel rack. He said he had. He had informed her that they didn't carry towel racks and she had headed out into the mall.
I quickly checked the towel sections in the other three department stores in the mall, all the while keeping my eyes open for her as I moved between stores. No Gram.
I went back to Sears to see if she had turned up. No Gram.
The same clerk informed me she had mentioned other shopping she needed to do. Now I was at a complete loss - she had told me at lunch she didn't need to get anything else! Now I wasn't even sure where to look! I sat outside the Sears entrance for a while hoping she would show up. Still no Gram.
I called my father at admitted to having lost his 88-year-old mother in the mall. After laughing at me, he suggested checking back at the car and at the bottom of the escalator also. On the way back to the escalator, I found Gram. She was waiting for me at the top of the ELEVATOR instead of the ESCALATOR.
And she wanted to know what had taken me so long!
I told her they couldn't locate Dan's contacts in the drawer, that they had been miss filed. She said she couldn't find any towel racks, but she didn't feel like shopping any more today. She was ready to go home.
Thank heavens. I don't think my heart could have handled taking her to another store.
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| My Gram, with my nephew, Ozark. |
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