eighty five, feelin' alive

nanna mac my last living grandparent who is 85 came to visit us this last week. in all her years she has never left australia which made this trip a big deal for her and those who know her 'positive' outlook on life. if you were to ask me if she was the get busy living person or the get busy dying person, i'd say she's the one getting busy dying, and that's just who she is. and who am i to say which one she should be, i'm not the one who is 85.

i should mention that my uncle bill and auntie ruth are the reason this trip is happening, because of their initiative and persistence they somehow convinced nanna to travel around the world with them.

from adelaide to brisbane to la and chicago followed by florida to see my brother matt and then to me here in dc. i was impressed to see her on the other side of the world seeing she is mostly dependent on a walking frame and mobility is a problem. i picked her up and to my surprise because of my wrong turn out of regan national airport we took our first tour of dc earlier than i'd planned. she was somewhat impressed with holly's and my new house but the stairs did create a bit of a challenge but with a a little help from her friends we got her up to the middle level where we spent thursday evening hanging out together.

friday we went back into dc for our now official tour. if nanna was to hate her walking frame then she would really hate being pushed around all day by me in a wheel chair. i could see us doing it no other way, if we were to cover the ground we wanted to then we needed to put her on wheels. we saw the FDR memorial to the lincoln memorial/korean/vietnam, on to the white house nanna refusing to have her photo taken @ each land mark. we circled the george washington monument as we had been indirectly all day and finally made it back to the car before our 3 hour park ran out.

saturday we pretty much did the opposite of the day previous, instead of heading towards the city we headed into the country. we drove skyline drive down in shenandoah national park, this of course worked out well as she didn't have to get out of the car to see the view. plus we saved $15 on admission because of nanna's disability pass, she was happy that she was able to help out saying "at least i'm good for something".

sunday we went to church which nanna later said that was her favorite part of her visit to dc. after church we were in the car eating pizza on our way to mt. vernon, the home of george washington. we had the joy of pushing her around again as it would of been to much for her to walk. we were restricted in getting up to the 2nd level in the mansion in the wheel chair although it wasn't big deal not taking nanna up there. on his farm like property we saw his house, his gardens and his grave.

monday we did some minor shopping as they were flying out later that night. we went to dinner @ craker barrel the old southern style restaurant which was fun. nanna insisted on paying however i beat her to the register and took care of the bill.

nanna mentioned several times on the trip "this is the perfect end to the perfect day" as we'd sit around playing scrabble and eating something nice sipping coffee. it was sad to see them go, a little piece of adelaide came to visit, then like most things had to leave again. i'm proud of her for having the courage to do this trip. well done nanna.