Guest Post From Nathan White

my day with grandma (We went for dinner with her at her complex)   she kept introducing us to people, telling them, "this is my grandson. this is his wife. they came to have a meal with me." the other seniors seemed genuinely pleased to have us around. she commented about how much the dinner tickets were, but that it was worth it to have us visit. we were the first ones in the dining room and we didn't sit at the table she normally occupies. she had a table reserved for us near the window. i got the impression that she went several times to the dining room to make sure the table was still booked.   they served chinese food - dumpling salad, ginger beef or orange sesame chicken with chow mein and brocoli, and rice pudding. grandma kept offering kristen cranberry juice. she remembered me, but she kept asking what kristen's name was. she reminded herself that her husband's name was chris. she talked about how much she missed you, holly, chris. when we would finish one course, she kept looking around the room for the server, anxious for someone to bring us the next course or clear the plates.   when dinner was finished she took us to her room where she turned on some polka music. she started dancing, so we danced with her. she turned up the music. she didn't want to do the puzzle, but she kept trying to give us things - a white hat for kristen, an afghan for me. she showed us all of her pictures, each of them. she remembers some things, but not all. she doesn't remember how old shirley is, but remembers that it was your birthday. she doesn't remember all the grandkids ages names, but once reminded of their names, can tell us things about each of them.   we left pretty soon after that. it was a nice time. i'll remember it for a long time, even if she doesn't.