Not Much Time Left

When my Mom began receiving reports that Grandma was getting sicker and sicker, we didn't really get too alarmed. Grandma's an old woman, and she's been ill before. It seems, though, that this is the end. While the details are sketchy at this point, she's had multiple heart attacks and her kidney's failing.

My Mom got the critical calls Friday night. It was late, and I heard the phone ring from within my room. Every son or daughter knows the sound of his parents crying - it must be some sort of instinct. I knew something was amiss, but since Mom didn't knock on my door, I tried to get back to sleep. Now, Mom is taking the two-hour flight to the hospital, where Grandma is in the ICU. I'm hoping for the best, but realistically, this is probably the last time she'll see Grandma alive.

I'm sad, of course, but I can't help remembering the times when Grandma was practically raising me, during the grade-school summers when my parents worked and I shipped off for my grandparents' place. Grandma would spoil and protect me during those summers, as most grandmothers do. I never really appreciated her then, but I sure do now.