So I finally got a chance to see Granny. She gets around using a walker but still gets around, which is more than some younger folks can say. Before being forced out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, she used to go to a senior center a couple times each week for exercises and socializing. Now that she, my aunt and uncle are in Texas in a 2nd floor apartment out in a suburban-ish area with steep stairs, there's no senior center nearby and she'd have to be carried up and down the stairs to get out and about. But she still has a great attitude and does chair exercises each week to keep her strength up. She has her own room and bathroom and goes on errands with my aunt and uncle.
They're all still learning the area they live in after 30+ years in New Orleans. It's been a big change, but one they say they're resigned to. "There's nothing left for us to go back to," my aunt said. "They're not fixing anything and it's just a mess. We're not living like that." That's me and her in the striped shirt. She just retired after 25 or so years as a high school principal and school administrator in New Orleans. My grandmother's been living with her and my uncle for a few years and she says they all feel blessed to be able to finally spend time with each other after years of my grandmother living on her own with another daughter (who passed away a couple years ago in her 60's) in the small, Northern Louisiana town she raised her family in.
We hung out with Granny for a bit and she met my husband for the first time. She chatted with him and sized him up a bit and said, "He seems like a good man," which made me smile. At that age, they don't have to sugar coat anything if they don't want to, so I took it as the gospel. :-)
After dinner with them, we headed to the Dallas Galleria. Ice skating on the bottom, wall to wall shopping on three levels. The woman at the Celine shop just gave us the scoop on other shopping areas. We'll hit those tomorrow.
not far from their place, and my uncle from LA arrived last night too. It's a mini-reunion! :-) I can't wait to see my grandmother. It's been a couple years.