Pride

Step shuffle shuffle step shuffle shuffle. This was the sound my grandma would make. For every one step I took, she'd take two. Though it was slow and slothy walk, she'd happily shuffle beside me. If we were at the mall, and there was a resting area, I'd tell my grandma to sit down. She'd slowly start crouching down, and then with a small plop, she'd finally be sitting. Then she gives a big sigh as if she had crossed a great ocean to get to this point.

My grandma was a proud woman, and by proud, I mean that she refused to use a cane until the ripe age of 93. She didn't like having aid to help her life become easier. I'll always wonder if this was because she thought it would impede her from being independent or she thought she didn't need it at all. Nonetheless, she loved the freedom of being able to walk no matter how slow it was.

My grandma also didn't have a hearing aid until the last few years. Everyone had to kind of yell so that she could hear. What was interesting was that in her apartment, she'd stand in front of a small TV and just stare at it. She couldn't hear what was coming out of the TV, but it was interesting to see her intently staring at the small screen trying to make out what was going on because she wouldn't move a inch. Her eye sight wasn't very good either, so I kind of wondered if she knew what the TV was playing. But, when she got her hearing aids, she commented, "I didn't know it was this loud around me."

Grandma, I have a feeling that when I get that old, that I'll be that stubborn about walking and hearing aids. When I get to age, I wonder how long it will take me to realize that I should use these things to make my life easier...