Part of this trip to Southern California, was to visit my aging great Aunt, who is 84, I believe. She is on dialysis, and has beat so many odds, her whole life. I wanted to take my dad with me to see her too. She has always been like a grandmother to me, and I have many memories with her growing up. She is my dad's Aunt, and they have always been a part of each other's lives, since he was born.
She is a talker, and we had some great conversations, especially about her health lol. She is great though, and so full of life. She has this great elephant collection, that keeps growing over the years. Many of us have tried to cut back on the giving of elephants, but someone always still does. She gives some away, like to my older son, when he was younger, she gave him a stuffed animal elephant once. It made him very happy, and it was a treasure simply because it was from her. :) Anyway, it was good for my dad to get out and about some more, and see people he for sure remembers from his distant past. By the way, I wanted to mention, that he definitely is remembering prior days on this trip, like when we went to the beach for breakfast on the pier, at Ruby's Diner. That is a huge deal, for people with Alzheimer's, if I am not mistaken. Now, if he can remember it in a few weeks, will be another story. That he remembers me, and that he can remember the last few days, or parts of them (like seeing starfish in the sand, something we never saw before!), is a big deal.
We had a wonderful visit with my Aunt... I love her so much. She took us to the backyard, gave us some lemons from her amazing lemon tree!! I made tea later on , and put LOTS of lemon juice in it when I poured a glass. She also gave me some bulbs, from her beautiful purple Irises!!! I LOVE these gorgeous flowers, and it really made my day :) My dad was silly off and on throughout the visit, and happy, though he did say later he was getting tired of all the talking, which I totally understand.
On the way home, we went by Duke's Hamburgers, a favorite of his. The burgers are HUGE, and really good. He was starting to get very tired though, and I could really tell. It was good to get him back to where he lives, and let him rest. I loved spending the time with him that I did though.
