OMG! Are you in trouble now!
So, we moved up from CA in '94. My mother and grandmother were to follow, once my Mother was officially retired...a few months later.
We secured an apt while we built Mom's house behind ours and I drove down to help her sort and pack. At 89 yrs of age, Mom and I thought it best to send GG on a 'vacation', while we asccomplished this;with her dear friend, Elizabeth, a tiny lil thing, very ambitious, but she was in her mid-80's herself. A very proper woman, much like GG, but somewhat less realistic.....anywhoo..... LOL! GG simply told her friends we were 'taking her to Oregon to die"......well..so GG went to Elizabeth's and they lived like sisters for 5 weeks, but it took some adjustment.....Gg had only been there a few days when we got a panic call from Elizabethl! GG had gone to take a bath...soaked in there for hours, fresh, hot water, lots of scented gooey stuff.......and when it was finally time to get out, she could not! She realized she had been accustomed to the assistance of a handrail, at the perfect spot, on the 'strong side ' of her body, and she couldn't get herself OUT of the bathtub! Elizabeth tried to help her, but to no avail......GG was stuck! Now, Gg was not a huge woman....she was the tallest of all of us women, topping out at 5'5"....MAYBE at her tops, 160-ish?? but, she was now dead weight!
Elizabeth finally called 911, and 8 nice young (

handsome ) paramedics came to her assistance. The bathtub is now empty, GG was getting cold, but Elizabeth was mostly concerned about GG's modesty, so she offered her a towel.then a robe.anything to cover Gg's most private parts...as Elizabeth is reporting this to me via telephone, I hear GG shout "Hell's Bells, Elizabeth, they're paramedics.they've seen a naked old lady before......just go make the Mai-tais!".........the paramedics wrenched her out of the tub, she regained her composure....and for the duration of her time there, sponge-bathed!
What does GG remember about that event? Handsome young men........and how long it took Elizabeth to make a mai-tai!
Just as an aside, Gg had given away most of her 'treasures' prior to entering a nursing home in '99. Items of value are long gone to the recipient she chose.....but that's ok....I have 80-some-odd years of notebooks and scrapbooks, where she would clip pictures, and write prose and poetry about nature, Farmer's Market, Trains...whatever tickled her fancy.........I cannot WAIT to read the ones about Rio........
Linda, jacks...this is cathartic..........thank you!
cathi