It's my granny's birthday today. She's 85. However, there was no party for it's Monday and everybody has to work, but she probably wouldn't have noticed anyway. She has dementia and lives in an old people's home. Even though she can't tell where and when she is, she still remembers people (although she usually forgets everybody's jobs and age and other insignificant information) even if she hasn't seen them for a long time. She has just returned from the hospital and all in all she's not well. I feel bad for not having visited her, but I will definitely go there next weekend.
This is her aged 16 approximately. She spent her teens in WW II and it had a deep effect on her. She used to talk about it a lot. Quite as much as she talked about fashion. She was totally obsessed and being short of money in and after the war, she had to sew / knit everything herself. When I was a child her stories about details in one or other piece of clothing that had long been given away for charity purposes bored me a little, but now I understand what a passion she had for her little hobby. She came from a very simple background and always put a lot of thought in her looks - she was very proud that in her youth she was sometimes 'mistaken' for princess / queen Elizabeth II of England. There might have been a slight resemblance ;)
Of course, she also had unpleasant sides (who hasn't?), but today not much of her is left. She forgets you visited her as soon as you leave the room. It makes me think about the benefits of living a long life and about how I can bring her a few moments of happiness.
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