After having Covid last Spring, Dave has a persistent "crackling" in lungs and wheezing. We'll be seeing a pulmonologist this week, but this is more about the mental/emotional state of elderly grandparents. I remember when we were on lock-down friends with young grandchildren fretted that their young grandchildren would forget them, but it hadn't occurred to many that we could forget our grandchildren.
With our young grandchildren, I started reading books to them on YouTube. They became so accustomed to seeing me on the television that they would greet me and even wish me a happy birthday. But, I wasn't seeing them since this was all on YouTube. Our daughter even said at Thanksgiving, "We see you almost every day and forget that you can't see us, too."
Most of our grandchildren were in their pre-teens-early teens when covid lockdown hit. We missed seeing our family as everyone did, but we hadn't counted on them maturing into adults in the three years we didn't see them. Having spent a career teaching teenagers, I wasn't surprised at their social distance to us when we saw them---no longer the screaming and running to greet us, but heads buried into phones or going to another room to "be teenagers". What I hadn't counted on was Dave literally not knowing who they were.
This year, we moved to Kansas City to be closer to our family but the grandsons had grown up so much that Dave was constantly asking, "Who is that?" He knew these young men were relatives but he thought they might be nephews. When our grandson Brett (22) came to take Dave to a social gathering here at McCrite, I cautioned him that Grandpa might introduce him as his nephew. I suggested it might be better if Brett just introduced himself, "I'm Dave's grandson, Brett."
For Christmas this year, the family gave us Aura which electronically flashes photos every 30 seconds or so. The family can all contribute photos remotely. Dave fully recognizes the grandchildren's photos from 10 years ago, but not those after Covid, but he's learning. Our daughters have uploaded photos all ages and stages of their children (and some photos of their childhood, as well). Dave no longer watches hours of "Major Crimes" but watches the Aura as the photos flash by. We are able to see the "grands" before, during and after covid-times. Several of the "grands" have even uploaded their photos with school activities and sports. Davis is going to Spain for this semester and promises to keep us updated through the app.
Although the photos are generated randomly, I have the setting "on" for "Photo match" which displays photos side by side "creating moments of delight by pairing related photos" which explains pairings like this (Left is my brother and his wife. Right is our grandson with me)
No comments:
Post a Comment