In January, my lovely Grandma Sigrid Violet Lemponen Smith passed away. I always loved her.
I did not always agree with her choice to be highly dependent upon the American medical system. She and my Grandpa, Ernest Edward Smith, were definitive guinea pigs for all that western medicine promised and offered. When I was very young, I remember them divvying up their pills between each meal, ensuring they both took their allotted batch. I always felt a weird sort of distaste for their increasingly odd ritual, that seemed to grow more intense and desperate with each summer visit. I worried that getting older for me might entail the strange dependence upon pharmaceuticals they both touted. Many days of our week-long visit included a visit to the pharmacy to ensure they were stocked up with the latest and greatest drug du jour.
Rather than focus on the drugs, I preferred to eat my Grandma's upside-down pineapple cake, which she could whip up faster than I could run down the hall. Plus, there was always a surplus of Pringle's chips, King Sooper's sodas, and as much candy as one could put down the throat.
Visiting my grandparents, first in Pueblo, CO, and then in Colorado Springs, was always a treat. Between extended shopping trips, and a guaranteed visit to the tourist attraction we'd not yet seen, we always had a blast.
My beautiful Mother informed me today that I will be receiving a small sum of money that had managed to be preserved despite the tens of thousands of dollars per month cost of my grandparents' care in their later life. I was so surprised! I think I'll buy me a pair of kick ass boots, and some new ice tools. I'm not sure my Grandma would be proud, but I think she'd respect my decision...as good a Finn as she was.
I did not always agree with her choice to be highly dependent upon the American medical system. She and my Grandpa, Ernest Edward Smith, were definitive guinea pigs for all that western medicine promised and offered. When I was very young, I remember them divvying up their pills between each meal, ensuring they both took their allotted batch. I always felt a weird sort of distaste for their increasingly odd ritual, that seemed to grow more intense and desperate with each summer visit. I worried that getting older for me might entail the strange dependence upon pharmaceuticals they both touted. Many days of our week-long visit included a visit to the pharmacy to ensure they were stocked up with the latest and greatest drug du jour.
Rather than focus on the drugs, I preferred to eat my Grandma's upside-down pineapple cake, which she could whip up faster than I could run down the hall. Plus, there was always a surplus of Pringle's chips, King Sooper's sodas, and as much candy as one could put down the throat.
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| My Mom, my brother, and me in Pueblo West on our way home after a Grandparent's visit. |
My beautiful Mother informed me today that I will be receiving a small sum of money that had managed to be preserved despite the tens of thousands of dollars per month cost of my grandparents' care in their later life. I was so surprised! I think I'll buy me a pair of kick ass boots, and some new ice tools. I'm not sure my Grandma would be proud, but I think she'd respect my decision...as good a Finn as she was.
