This is the day

This is a day that the Lord has made, we will Rejoice and be glad in it.

My grandfather is really not doing well. He fell and broke his hip about two months ago and he hasn't been the same since. He is 81. He's done a lot of living and his wisdom astounds me. To be honest, he's never been my hero. He grew up in a much different time and has many beliefs and customs that I don't associate with; habbits I would detest in others but dismiss for him because of the fact that he group up in a much different time. I'm home visiting with him, my grandmother and my parents for a few days and my respect and admiration for him has grown tremendously. It's difficult for him to smile or show much expression at all, but when I'm beside him and holding his tough, worked hand and looking into his deep blue eyes, counting the grand-canyon-like wrinkles on his face, I feel so much respect and adoration for him. It's all I can do to try and make him smile on the inside, even if it doesn't show on the outside.

Yesterday, I took my grandmother to the grocery store to pick up some neccesities for the house- doughnuts, chocolate milk, milk, orange juice, bread turkey dogs, bananas and tissues- who knew what 80 year olds buy at the grocery store. She asked me how I was doing (probably because she's so exhausted of all the times people have asked her how shes doing recently) and I told her I was doing really well. She told me, "you have so much to look forward to." In that moment I felt overwhelmed with sincere furaha. Furaha in the fact that I do have so much to look forward to and Furaha in the fact that she, a very wise woman, could identify that.

I sometimes wonder if elderly people are happy; do they realize that all thier closest relatives and friends are dying? do they realize that they're completely clueless about what's going on in the lives of those they love who are still alive? do they realize how much the world has changed and how its seemed to leave no room for them or their thoughts? Do they realize that their conversations are monotonous? I hope I'm wrong about all of this. I hope somewhere out there its different for some people or that its different for everyone and we just can't understand that until we experience it. I hope they elderly in this world have some secret game (real or imagined) that all of us younger people are unaware of but that entertains and educates and fulfils them.

I love family. I love Furaha. I hope my grandparents feel Furaha.