Yesterday morning my Grandpa Shelly had a stroke and fell in the kitchen. An ambulance came and rushed him to Banner Desert. 

I went to see him this afternoon. I learned that the left side of his brain has completely died. He had a million tubes and chords attached everywhere and the faint beep of the heart monitor was a constant background buzz. He can’t open his puffy eyes or speak with a tube down his thought but he can squeeze your hand. So I stood there and held his hand for a good 20 minutes.

I thanked him for always being so good to grandma. Thanked him for going on so many missions, for going to all my choir concerts and piano recitals. I thanked him for sharing his special stash of Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars with Marc and me. Then Doris and I sang him some primary songs. I could hear grandma chiming in some harmony from the far side of the room. 

I drove Grandma home when I left so she could get some sleep. She liked to read the names of all the signs all the way to her house. 

She talked about how just on Tuesday Elden had done all sorts of little jobs around the house; got down and fixed a drain in the bathroom and cleaned a feature above their shower. She told me it was interesting and a blessing his accident happened Wednesday morning because Wednesday afternoon he was scheduled for some extensive and serious dental surgery that she said would cost around $30,000. 

When we got to her house she showed me her tomato plant and rose bushes. She filled out Marc’s graduation card she bought for him, wrote the check, and then when she was balancing her check book stopped and looked deviststed. “I don’t use the computer,” she told me. And then went on to tell me how Elden always went online to their account to tell her the balance. She was at a lost with out him. 

They have been married seventeen and a half years. He really is the only Grandmpa I can remember. Thanks Grandpa.