"I've had a good life..."

This blog seems to range from post to post and this post has got to be one of the most heart-wrenching I'm ever going to write.

I visited my Gran as I do most Friday nights. She was very happy and chatting away to mum and me, it is beyond me sometimes where those huge smiles come from when she isn't at her best. I keep telling her that she has the biggest smile in the world and reminding myself how lucky I am to have her as a Gran-I truly am, her influence in my life has been profound and even though she has Alzheimer's I can still see the person she was and still is in those fleeting moments when she tells me to put on my cardigan.

I don't know where we'd be without the Alzheimer's but there's nothing we can do and so we just have to be thankful for every moment that we have.

For the double-whammy, after spending some time with my Gran I went to speak to some of the other residents in the care home. This is something which gives you hope in humanity again. Anyway,  as I went to start my round of saying hello to everyone and was shouted by my mum to say hello to, let's call him ML.

ML is a relatively new resident and though I'd spoken to him briefly before, I decided it would be nice to have a chat. *Cue sitting on the floor and talking until you lose the feeling in your legs* and the thing that struck me out of that conversation was that even though his medical diagnosis of Alzheimer's has meant that his life has been turned upside down, he's still thankful for having a good life. He also convinced me to stop worrying and just take each day as it comes because you can't do anything else. What a sweet, gentle soul.


As you may be able to figure out, this made me take a few steps back and re-evaluate life. If I'm going to think anything about my life when I'm old and grey I want to be able to say "I've had a good life."