Nonnie in Chilli

From the family email update archives, Nonnie in Chilli. June of 2003 was the last time Pam's grandma traveled the 1200+ miles from Miami to come see us. She stayed for a week in Erin's bedroom and we really cherish that visit. Life was a lot different for us in those days. It was a lot different for Mary as well. 7 months after her visit she found herself on her death bed (Jan. 04). Pam flew to spend the week with her in the hospital. She managed to recover but life changed for her from that point on. Within a year or so she ended up moving out of her condo on Biscayne Bay into a "retirement" village and even stopped driving.

June 12, 2003

Nonnie in Chilli

Sometimes when you invite your 91 year old grandmother to spend a week with you, traveling 1200 miles alone, you get tense. The severe thunderstorms predicted for Tuesday afternoon this week didn't materialize and Nonnie made it to Peoria ahead of schedule. The trip went well and we had a wonderful birthday party for her on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday was spent hanging out at the house and eating. Today, Thursday, we realized that Nonnie is capable of more than doing hair with the girl, playing patient to Erin's doctor, and posing nicely by beautiful flowers. Her energy level seemed more like that of a 65 year old, so we put her to work.

The pictures speak for themselves. We found her to be a little slow on the uphill portions of our yard while mowing, but she gutted it out and managed to get us some supper to boot.

Talk to you later.

Rick