I Love You Nanny

Gracie made a friend at the nursing home. This little old lady just loved Gracie. She even followed her to the door when we left.


These past two weeks have been a whirlwind. I flew down to Louisiana two Fridays ago and flew back to Atlanta two days later. Then Ron and I turned around the following Friday and drove down to Louisiana to pick up Gracie and drove back home on Sunday. I'm beat. On top of all this traveling, my 100 year old godmother/Nanny (pictured above) was hospitalized and was not expected to survive this past weekend. The crazy thing about this is that these pictures were taken the first weekend I was back home in Cut Off.





Let me give you a little history.....





My grandmother Bella (who lived to be 100) was one of 9 siblings. 6 girls and 3 boys. Bella married a Guidry boy (Odon), whose brother (Elmer) married Edna, one of Bella's sisters. You follow? So back in the 60's when Bella and Edna both lost their husbands, Edna moved in with Bella. All of Bella's children lived down the same street (Uncle Cleve eventually moved to Houston) and the grandchildren all grew up together with Bella as their grandma and Edna as their "bonus grandma". I was the youngest of the 10 grandchildren and Edna' s only godchild. To say that I was spoiled would be an understatement. My Nanny is a very talented seamstress and she made most of my clothes when I was a kid. I used to love to visit with Grandma and Nanny growing up. As I got older and my life got busier, I didn't visit them as often, but every visit was treasured. I could always count on a good laugh when I visited because the two of them were just like Burt and Ernie from Sesame Street. Bella was always happy-go-lucky and Edna was always fussing over or fixing something..... that something was usually Bella. It was a comedy. I could also always count on a full recap of the soap operas. They were faithful watchers of all soaps on CBS. Especially the "Bold and the Beautiful", which they called "The Bulletin". Years passed and Edna, the younger one, took care of Bella (2 broken hips) until she could no longer handle the strain and that's when Bella's children stepped in on a full-time basis.



After Bella's death in 2002, Edna moved "Up the Bayou" to live with 3 of her other sisters who had never married and lived together all their lives. Fast forward to this past February. One day Aline, the youngest at 89, passed out while cooking and fell on Octavia, 98, who broke her hip. At that point it was clear that they could no longer "take care" of each other. The family reluctantly moved Octavia and Edna into a nursing home. It was the hardest decision for my mom, her siblings and their cousins. Neither Octavia, Edna or Aline had any children. Sadly, Octavia never recovered from the hip surgery and she passed away this May. My mom and her sister shuffled Edna back and forth between their homes for a month after Octavia's death because she did not want to be in the home alone. She always thought that she was in the home to take care of her sister because she wasn't sick herself. She had not been in the hospital once in all of her 100 years! Well, my Aunt's husband is ill and my Mom cannot get around very well, so they were forced to put her back in the home. Surprisingly, Edna adjusted wonderfully.



When we visited last weekend, she looked GREAT! She walked up and down those halls with such ease. She remembered us all by name. We made the veiller ("vay yay" - cajun for visit). She looked so comfortable there and that made us feel good. The only thing she complained about was a sore throat. A few days later she was in the hospital with pneumonia and congestive heart failure :(



This past Saturday, Ron and I visited her on our way to Grand Isle and she did not look good. I thought for sure that was the last time I would see her. She was not responsive whatsoever. We woke up Sunday morning to the news that she was sitting up in bed, eating and talking. WHAT? I couldn't believe it. I ran over to the hospital and she was cracking jokes. Now don't get me wrong she still looked and sounded very sick, but that turnaround was a miracle. As of tonight she is still talking, but not making much sense. I pray she finds peace.