As some of you know, my grandmother passed away the Monday before Thanksgiving last year.  She was only a few days shy of her 89th birthday.  She and my grandfather ( Pa Pa) had been married nearly 65 years.  In the last few years of her life she and Pa Pa, spent much of their time fighting with one another.  In April of last year my mom and uncle had to move them into a nursing home.  This change didn’t make either of my grandparents happy; their moods worsened, and their fighting escalated.  In fact, they fought so loudly that they were disturbing the other residents and the employees at the home.  Needless to say, my grandparents probably weren’t the employees’ most favorite patients.

Now that Pa Pa is at the home alone, and doesn’t have to worry about my grandmother everyday, he is much more relaxed.  He isn’t grumpy; he doesn’t complain.  He eats his food, and he sleeps.  He even leaves the room and plays bingo with the other residents (which he was adamantly against in the beginning).  So, things are turning around for him.  A few days ago he rambled off something to my mom about some ladies coming to his room and telling him he was the king.  Well, he gets confused pretty easily these days, so none of us really thought anything about it.  A day or so later, though, mom gets a call from the nursing home saying that every year before the annual Valentine’s Day party, the staff votes for their favorite male and female patients.  The winners get to be the king and queen of the party!  Guess who was voted king?  You got it!  My grandfather!

I’m so happy for him that he is now able to live out the rest of his time in this life (however long or short that may be) with a sense of peace and happiness.  There was once a time when the nursing staff didn’t care for him much, but now they can see who he really is.  They can see that he was just worried sick about my grandmother, and he wore himself ragged taking care of her.  Now they like him!  In fact, they like him best of all!  I’m so thankful that when it’s his turn to be with Jesus that his caregivers will remember him fondly.