Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Be it you are remembering a loved one and times spent, surrounded by loved ones, friends or family- I wish you the very best. Here is a short story I wrote and I hope you enjoy- FOREVER YOUNG My Grandma had been living for about a year in the home. I knew that with everyday that passed, without her things, her real home that her mind would continue to slide away. Nothing hurt more than visiting her and having her forget my name. Not recognize me. Dad assured me it was the sands of time erasing her life but, she knew that these “strangers” were once someone she held dear. So, I began to read, research. I created a plan and that was when I ventured out to her property and with my Dad’s permission I had Fey towed to my shop. Ah, Fey. In my family she was known as the white 1962 Ford Country Squire station wagon. The first new car that Grandpa had ever purchased for her and she loved it. The beautiful then new car was parked on the showroom floor of Bob Jones Skyland Ford. Under the showroom lights the car looked like a dream. She had been driving a ’52 Mercury sedan and had it til they had married. Now that she was a new bride and had a little one on the way, Grandad stepped up and had his eyes on a new car for her that would be roomy and look great and have that new V8 power. The Galaxie had a 390, power everything. Spacious and with a tri colour interior of white, black and red was an attractive contrast to the white and wood grain exterior. As her family grew ( they ended up with 5 kids) Grandma kept up on the maintenance and had the wagon taken care of. When my Dad left the nest at 18 to go to college, and most of us grandchildren were out of state, Grandad purchased Grandma a then new Vega and Fey was put out to pasture. Life is a freeway. Hell, I call it a speedway really. Years as a child crawl but as you age, a work week, month or year, just become an endless loop and a blur. As time does, it takes away from us memories, friends and family. Grandad passed as did most of my uncles. Grandma was placed in a home and I knew it was just a matter of time. But, I had a plan, ya see, as I said earlier in my tale here, sometimes a mind once considered gone or slipping away can be brought back. All it would take was a string of sparks. Visuals that the person once loved and knew to bring them back. You see, I loved my Grandma, and knew she had some more spark in her and that was when the restoration of Fey began. My goal was a fast one. I had Fey towed to my place in February of that year. With the help of friends and local businesses, my crazy idea came to fruition. During the restoration on a stormy night in May, I opened the glovebox and found a handwritten note tucked away. It read- To my beloved Mamie, the love of my life, this car I purchased for you to take our kids to school and more. I will take care of her as I will you. Her name is Fey. In my mind Fey means For Ever Young. As you will always be to me.” -George I reread the note a handful of times and did so til my eyes awash in tears could not do so. I carefully placed the handwritten note back and knowing the amount of work left to do, I attacked it with a new purpose. Fey was a secret. My family was kept away from my shop and the great unveil would happen on Thanksgiving. See, a large family like mine has these amazing traditions. For the most part, it is all about the celebration of us as a whole, a unit. Kids are asked to put away the phones and video games. Enjoy one another. Share and listen. Eat, talk, laugh. Watch the game (GO BRONCOS), play cards. As we had for decades again we would meet at my Aunt’s home in North Denver. The table would slowly growing with the gifts brought everyone. At 8 Thanksgiving morning I pulled up to the home. Fey was like a dream. Her bright white paint just shined. Newly polished stainless and chrome shined like a young man’s dream. Her interior was like it had been in 1962. The faux wood sides added to the restored time machine. The mighty 390 burbled and sang her song from the twice pipes. I let her idle as the nurse brought Grandma curbside. I was dressed to the nines as I always did and stepped out to take my Grandma’s hand and open her door. She looked at me and smiled then she looked at the ’62. She gasped “Fey!” I smiled. “Yes Grandma, she is back, let’s go for a ride.” I took the backroads to my Aunt’s home. I drove fey past old Denver landmarks and slowly Grandma started to tell me stories of where we were. Civic Center, the Capital building. We drove past a boarded up old bar and Grandma laughed and told a story of her and Grandad and my Aunt Stella and one crazy night. She turned to me and her eyes lit up. “Oh, Michael, look at you so grown up! Driving my Fey! “ We rode along and as we got closer to my Aunt’s home and Thanksgiving dinner Grandma sat and rubbed her hands together. “Mikey-will they all be there” She asked. I nodded. “Yes Grandma. Cousins, my parents, my brother and sister. “Oh- well. Can I at least drive Fey to Barb’s?” I smiled and said of course. My guts tightened. Grandma had not driven for decades. She had been in the home for over a year. But- Well, I had not seen her alive like this for years. I relinquished the driver’s seat. She scooted over and we moved the bench forward. I pulled my phone out and sent a text to my Dad. –HAVE THE FAMILY OUTSIDE- SURPRISE COMING- was all I sent. Grandma swung the big ol’ wagon off of 23rd and drove her down Perry street. We sat across from my Aunt’s home and the street was lined with family. A cheer was let out as Grandma drove across and parked Fey. She parked and stepped out. “Dinner can wait, Who wants a ride?” S I have read that with dementia that at times all it takes is a single thing to bring someone back and on that Thanksgiving day, with that big beautiful Country Squire wagon, Grandma came back to us. -Written by Mark “Spooky” Karol-Chik Oct 10, 2019
My eyes are leaking...the connection between and object and someone with dementia's past is something I know is very true. My dad didnt remember my name. but he sure remembered his Impala. alls it took is one .99 cent matchbox car to trigger his memory.
Thanks for giving that time of life back to your grandmother. Everyone in the family will thank you for years to come for what you did,
Why do I let you guys sucker me in to stories like this? Now my wife wants to know why I look like I am crying. Great story !! Sent from my VS987 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Spooky, another great story, thank you! I may be mistaken but did you post this once before? I see you wrote it last year and I'm sure I read it before, last year perhaps?
Yep! That wagon will haul home the turkey and fixin's for many years to come..... Thanks again Spooky for this great story and all the others you wrote so far....
Yes I did- I like to share seasonal stories so that those who did not read them before can enjoy them the next time around. And thanks!
This definitely pulled my heart strings. My dad died when I was a kid and my grandparents raised me for the most part. My grandfather was my father figure and my hero. He was what a man was supposed to be in my mind. Kind of gruff and rough around the edges (typical trucker) yet showed love for us that I had never seen. He put food on my plate and roof over my head and did so much more. Taught me everything I needed to know about being a man, without him I wouldn't be half the man I am today. Before he passed away my grandfather had the start of dementia and Alzheimer's. His mother got Alzheimer's and it scared the hell out of him. It was the only time I have ever seen him scared. He told me "Boy I'm scared, my mother died from this and it was a slow sad death. She forgot everyone and everything she ever knew until she was in a world she didn't know, she then eventually passed. I'm going to tell you something and I want you to listen. I am putting you in charge of me, you will be my power of attorney and the executor of my will. I know you don't want this but you are the only one I know will do what I say and follow my wishes. If I can't take care of myself I don't want to be here any more." I replied "Grandpa don't talk like that." He then told me this as the gruff man he was, "If I can't wipe my own ass or take care of myself, boy you got to let me go because I'm already gone." My whole family tried to get me to put him in a home but I refused as he could still function and I took care of him instead. He begged to not be put in a home and I would be damned if he was. I made sure he ate his three meals a day and went over there morning, noon, and night to be sure he was taking his medication. We'd go for a drive to the local restaurant pretty much daily in his 51 ford. He'd sit in the back smiling saying I was driving miss Daisey. One day when I was eating lunch with him he told me that he didn't think he'd be around much longer and he wanted to go on a vacation. I told him that I had just started my new job and there was no way I could get time off yet. He said "Boy I don't have enough time left to wait. I have traveled this country since the 60s as a truck driver and I have never been able to just enjoy the trip. I want to take a trip up through the Black hills and come down through Colorado and back to Iowa." I told him that I would do what I could but it'd be a while. The next thing you know I get a call from his neighbor in the middle of the night saying he took off. Mind you my grandfather hadn't been driving or going anywhere for a while all be it he could I just had been taking care of him. When I got to his house about 1AM there was note on the table that said "Sorry boy I just had to go, I will call you every day at noon." Not knowing where exactly he went I could not follow him. I called local law enforcement and since he wasn't a dependent adult they would not help me and said he could go anywhere he wanted which I guess is true because that is what he did. He called me at noon like he said he would that next day. We had a little bit of a heated conversation as I was worried to death. He said, "Boy I love you too. I'm ok, I am in North Dakota doing the loop that I told you I wanted to do. I will call you every day at noon but sorry I couldn't wait I don't have the time. I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't let me go." He then hung up, and mind you he has no cell phone or anything so he is just using pay phones wherever he stops. The next day I have my phone in my hand and I am anxiously waiting to hear from him. Noon comes, then 12:30, then 1:00, then 1:30 and still no call. I had to be to work by 2pm and started heading that way. About half way to work I get a phone call from Colorado PD, Detective Coke. He tells me that my grandfather was sitting at a stop light in Colorado springs and sat through a couple lights. A man behind him got mad and started yelling at my grandfather. He then pulled my grandfather out of his truck and slammed him to the concrete on his head. My grandfather never woke up and was currently on life support. The man who did it is not being charged as my grandfather swung at him as well so he was let go do to it being a mutual deal. I was furious, "Are you kidding me? My grandfather is 74 and uses a cane to walk he isn't fighting anybody." The detective was trying to tell me to calm down and explain everything and I hung up on him. I immediately called in to work and went home and gathered my things and the family and I headed to Colorado. Once there I talked with hospital staff and they told me he would never wake up and it was just the machines keeping him alive. Then as the power of attorney I had to make the hardest call I have ever had to make. They asked if we wanted to take him off life support or leave him on. The family all started saying leave him on the machines etc. But I interrupted and said that grandpa's wishes were to be let go and he didn't want a machine keeping him alive. My whole family started yelling at me and accusing me of wanting him to die so I could get his things etc. This was suppose to be my family and they should see this is hard on me as well yet they are making this moment even harder. I then said "Grandpa said if he can't wipe his own ass to let him go, that is his exact words. He wants to go so let him go!" They then took him off the machines and we waited for him to pass. He was a tuff old man, even though he was now off the machines for days he had still yet to pass. I had to go back to Iowa or get fired which was also was another horrible decision I had to make. The hospital chaplain and I performed his last rights before I left and I put a cross necklace on him kissed his forehead and left. I got back to Iowa about 12:45PM the next day and needed to be to work by 2PM. I got dressed started heading to the door. As I came into the room I swear I seen my grandfather standing there in person with his Earnhardt hat and bibs smiling and then he faded away. Not even a minute later I got a phone call Colorado number, it was the chaplain telling me my grandfather had passed and I told her I knew, "he just said goodbye." He was cremated and driven to the cemetery by me in his 51 ford for one last ride. We are now fixing up the 51 ford as a family and taking family drives, picking my kids up from school, and take the car out to eat. When we go on our drives I know he is with me riding along with that big shit eating grin on his face. I miss him every day, Love you Pops!
The Jalopy Journal
