I love your family stories; they remind me of my family in a lot of ways. My mother’s mom had all of her teeth pulled, and my mother was horrified and sad. I asked why, and I guess grandmother hadn’t been feeling well for awhile, and for some weird reason thought pulling her teeth out was the solution. It would be bad enough to do it today. Can you imagine what it would have been like back then?!
My aunt (my dad’s brother’s wife) once got tired of hearing about the various family problems, and said, “everyone’s family is dysfunctional!” I think she might have been onto something.
My mother had six siblings, all boys. There seemed to be a fair amount of late state dementia (or later stage) that they were susceptible to, and for the most part, I would say they were a smarter than average group. My mother was very bright, and always very thoughtful and interesting. I don’t think we really noticed when she first started showing signs of Alzheimer’s (at least that was the diagnosis) because she always seemed a bit eccentric. It could be stressful for her family (especially my dad), but there was also a part of her that was quite entertaining.
Surprisingly, she was still very smart, and often quick with a good comeback (and, yes, stubborn!!). She definitely kept my dad on his toes, even when they were young, and she was still trying to let him think he was in charge. 😉
I worry about things heading south, but I also have a lot of my dad’s personality. He slowed down with age (don’t we all!), but he stayed mentally sharp until about the last two weeks of his life when he was very ill. I so much want to be able to take care of myself for as long as possible. I hope that when I go, I just conveniently collapse, and people will be happy they knew me.
I love this! I love hearing about quirky family members & how quirkiness & temperaments move through family trees.
I love your family stories; they remind me of my family in a lot of ways. My mother’s mom had all of her teeth pulled, and my mother was horrified and sad. I asked why, and I guess grandmother hadn’t been feeling well for awhile, and for some weird reason thought pulling her teeth out was the solution. It would be bad enough to do it today. Can you imagine what it would have been like back then?!
My aunt (my dad’s brother’s wife) once got tired of hearing about the various family problems, and said, “everyone’s family is dysfunctional!” I think she might have been onto something.
My mother had six siblings, all boys. There seemed to be a fair amount of late state dementia (or later stage) that they were susceptible to, and for the most part, I would say they were a smarter than average group. My mother was very bright, and always very thoughtful and interesting. I don’t think we really noticed when she first started showing signs of Alzheimer’s (at least that was the diagnosis) because she always seemed a bit eccentric. It could be stressful for her family (especially my dad), but there was also a part of her that was quite entertaining.
Surprisingly, she was still very smart, and often quick with a good comeback (and, yes, stubborn!!). She definitely kept my dad on his toes, even when they were young, and she was still trying to let him think he was in charge. 😉
I worry about things heading south, but I also have a lot of my dad’s personality. He slowed down with age (don’t we all!), but he stayed mentally sharp until about the last two weeks of his life when he was very ill. I so much want to be able to take care of myself for as long as possible. I hope that when I go, I just conveniently collapse, and people will be happy they knew me.