Love You Nana..........

Apart from missing my family tremendously, another reason why I had wanted to come home was my Nana, the person I was named after. Over the past year she has been a little more forgetful and my parents made the decision that she needed to move to a care facility that will give her the freedom to still do as she liked but that also allowed for her to have somebody watching her all the time.

They found an amazing place called Hill View House - it is an aged care residence. When my parents first told me about my Nana moving there I was really concerned as I think back to dirty old nursing homes that smell. When I got to visit Nana, after arriving home, I was amazed. This place is beautiful. Nana has some of her old furniture in her room with pictures of her family all over the room. There are activities that she can participate in if she feels like - for eg. bingo, dances, movies, etc. She seems really happy there.

Infact, she seems extremely happy there. She is one of the more alert residents - alot of the people living there are quite elderly and just sit and chant all day or just keep to themselves. I have to say that I am lucky that Nana isn't quite that ill. She is just a little forgetful - I am not even sure if she truly recognizes me - I just take each visit a day at a time. My mum said that she thinks she does know who I am as she was asking about me coming home, 'When is she coming home?' she would say to my mum. I try to visit once a week - I have to go when my mum goes as my Nana will start talking in her native language, Maltese, and I don't understand what she says when she does this. Also, I don't think I am strong enough to get my Nana out of the sad moments that she does have. On my last visit to see her I went with Mum and Dad and it was amazing how both my parents pepped Nana up and made her laugh and smile. I don't think I could do that.

Seeing my Nana like this really makes me think how fast people can deteriorate - the last time I saw my nana was back in 2005 and she was fine. Infact she was getting my DH and I to write down a family recipe - something that she used to make us a long time ago. I think back now and realise maybe she knew she was slowly forgetting things and that was why she was so adament that we write this recipe down.

Something I have learned, and probably always known, make time for your family. Never take them for granted. Especially Grandparents, we have alot to learn from the elderly.

Till next time...............