A few weeks ago I learned that my lung cancer had crept into my bones and is likely to take my life within six months. That’s the bad news.
Category: Grand Mom
Good news for families
At my age, it is not too surprising to have a bad health day that keeps me home. But when it happens on Sunday and I must miss Mass, I find myself asking, “Why, God? Why today? Don’t you want me to go to Mass?”
Continuing education in our senior years
 |
|
“Guess who is using a calculator these days?” said my husband Bob, as he set down his suitcase just inside the front door. “My mother!”
No! Not the woman who stubbornly maintained that not while she had the brains God gave her . . .
This was back in the late 60s or early 70s when Bob was traveling on business trips that rarely took him in the vicinity of his parents’ Illinois home, and now he recounted the happy visit when he was able to give them one of the calculators his company issued and teach them how to use it.
“I wish you could have seen how delighted they were with their new ‘toy’ after I taught them how to use it.”
Pleasant reminder
I was reminded of that incident recently when I visited my son Tom and his wife in Colorado.
Making life pleasant with an attitude of gratitude
|
|
I recently lived vicariously through a friend’s miserable experience caring for an elderly aunt.
Although my friend traveled more than 2,000 miles to care for her aunt following a surgery, she was treated like a servant by this grumpy old lady, who showed no gratitude for her niece’s sacrifice, even though back home those of us who know her well are aware of her outstanding homemaking and nursing skills.
We couldn’t wait for the two weeks to end and have her back home to her family where she is appreciated.
Caring for the elderly
This was an experience that touched my heart and made me think about the whole situation of the elderly and the caregiver.
God subtly gets his point across
Throughout my life I have many times been reminded of Sister Gregory, my favorite teacher’s comment that God has a sense of humor.
Antiques of years past are blessings of today
|
|
It’s hard for me to believe it now, but in my younger years I cared nothing about antiques. I foolishly figured that anyone who furnished a home with them simply couldn’t afford new stuff.
Now, although I still don’t have them in my home, I find myself fascinated by anything with a “history.”
I can’t wait each week to watch public television’s Antiques Roadshow. I guess you could say I didn’t care for antiques until I became one.
Grand Mom is still ‘plugging away’
|
|
Editor’s note: We are pleased to welcome back our popular “Grand Mom” columnist, Audrey Mettel Fixmer. We published her last column in November of 2012. This week she explains some of the challenges she has faced in the past 14 months. We hope that Audrey will continue to share her wisdom with us as often as possible. God bless you, Audrey!
Our wonderful editor, Mary Uhler, phoned me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that so many of my faithful readers inquired about me that she felt obliged to offer an excuse for my absence.
Learning to cook with ‘appeal’
My late husband taught me two important lessons about cooking.
When I confessed to him a few weeks before our wedding that I knew nothing about cooking (zilch!), he advised me in his typical philosophical manner, “There are two ways to look upon the challenge of cooking: one as an art, which requires creative talent, and the other as a science, which requires a cookbook. Get a cookbook.”
Catholic education provided for generations
“Don’t you want to be a teacher?” asked my friend Joan just weeks before we were to graduate from Madonna High School in Aurora, Ill.
This was the all-girls’ class of 1945, where we were taught by Franciscans Sisters. We had both been accepted by St. Ben’s in Minnesota, where we would be taught by Benedictines.
I was confused. “What do you mean, a teacher? I don’t want to be a nun, you know.”
Grand Mom shares her ‘happy ending tips’
Are you checking out the obituaries every day like Mark Twain did to see if you are on the list?
Or do you just average the ages to hopefully find some of the deceased are older than you? Either way, it’s a sure sign that you’re aware that you aren’t getting any younger. You are nearing the finish line. Ouch!