Tuesday, August 18, 2015

"A Funny, But Sad, Story"

I was talking to my (great-) Aunt Judy this morning.

As we chatted, she was telling me about my Nana's dementia (since I haven't been down to visit Nana for a while. I write her letters, since her hearing's not very good anymore ... and so that Aunt I (who takes care of Nana) can read them and know what's going on, too).

And here's this story, which happened in the not-too-distant past ...

Nana: [Pop-pop/Nana's husband]'s come back.

Judy: (not knowing if this is the dementia or not) Oh?

Nana: Yes, he's sitting right there on the porch. He's come back to collect his social security.

Judy: Well, okay.

Nana: (matter-of-factly) He's going to get in trouble for fraud, since he's been dead for thirteen years.


I have to admit that this exchange has me tickled. It's just such a Nana thing to say, that last line.

Like once, in a conversation with her a few years back, she was telling me about some distant cousins who adopted a little girl from China.

Nana: So, they're both ladies ... well, which one's the husband and which one's the wife?

Me: Um, I think that you just refer to them as 'partners.'

Nana: Oh, that makes sense. ... I don't know why they call homosexuals 'gay.' They don't seem very happy.

(That's where I had to work really hard at not bursting into peals of laughter.)

I love my Nana. She's darling.

And, hey, even if she's waking up at 1 AM to make Pop-pop some coffee and lunch, if she's woken you up, hey! you can have a midnight-ish snack, right?
(Which is better than, say, having someone with dementia swear that they've been stabbed or that people are creeping around the house ... and then shooting a hole in the door. ... So I've heard.)

But, yeah.