Skip to main content

Grandma Francus

Chris’s grandmother – his dad’s mother – died on Friday. She had Alzheimer’s Disease; I think Chris and Amy and their dad probably came to terms with her loss many years ago, when the disease took hold. Strangely enough, without even knowing how ill she was at the time, Chris and Amy had a long conversation about Grandma Francus the night before she died; they told Mallory and Phoebe some funny stories about their visits with her in Chicago when they were kids. Chris has a theory that most people have one set of “fun” grandparents and one set of “proper” grandparents; the Francuses were the fun ones in his family. (The fun ones in mine were the ones with the golf course in their house. Naturally.)

It’s sad that our girls never knew Grandma Francus; it’s sad that, as Chris said, “I have no grandparents left now.” I wish I could think of a better ending than the old cliché that she’s now “in a better place.” I’m not even sure if that’s true; but I hope it is, and I hope she rests in peace.

Comments

aimee said…
Tell Chris and his family we are so sorry. Big hugs to all of you. Love you!
2:26 PM
Karen said…
I'm sorry too. It is like you lose people with Alzheimer's twice. So sad.
8:23 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I ask you

This is my garden: Or rather, this is the patch of soil that was my garden last summer. It produced millions of tomatoes, dozens of green peppers, a handful of cucumbers, and two puny watermelons. I do not wish to repeat last summer's vegetable bounty, because most of said bounty went to waste. Nor, however, do I want this patch of soil to remain brown and bare throughout the summer, because it's unattractive. So, what do I plant here, in the shrubbery/flowery vein? Keep in mind that I do not have a green thumb. Also, I don't want to spend a lot of money. Also, this area is in full sun most of the day. And it's really hot. And sometimes we get rabbits. Any advice? To thank you in advance, I give you these goofy photos of my children and their homemade parfaits (which Mallory persisted in calling "specialinis").
5 comments
Read more

the closet

Amy has challenged me to list 8 things that are hidden in the back of my closet. I try not to actually look to closely at the back of my closet, so these are my closest guesses: 1. At least three no-longer-needed diaper bags. 2. An outfit that I've been meaning to return to Land's End for at least six months now. 3. One of our wedding pictures, which has a broken frame which I keep meaning to replace. 4. Shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes. 5. Possibly a pair of fuzzy slippers. I miss those fuzzy slippers. Maybe I should brave the mess and go try to find them. 6. Baby blankets. 7. A few small toys that I meant to stick in the girls' Christmas stockings. Maybe next year. 8. And I'm guessing, a bunch of mismatched socks. My closet isn't very interesting, I'm afraid.
1 comment
Read more

The Golf Course

There was a miniature golf course in my grandparent’s house. There were, in fact, lots of cool-if-kitschy things in my grandparents’ house. There were swinging saloon doors between the kitchen and the master suite. There was a toilet seat made of transparent plastic, with ticket stubs from horse races embedded therein. There was a globe wine bar (pictured!). There was a mounted goat head (the goat was named Bucky) on whose antlers my granddad hung his golf caps. There was a stuffed pheasant whose chest feathers were smooth as silk. There was a kitchen bar of green marbled formica and swively kitchen chairs of red pleather. There was an automatic ice dispenser on the refrigerator, which was a rare and awe-inspiring thing in the 1970’s. There was a mirrored tray holding bejeweled perfume bottles with atomizers in the guest bathroom. There were two huge oil paintings – one of my aunt, with beautifully frosted hair, holding a Pug, one of my older sister as a toddler sitting on a John De...
7 comments
Read more