The Circle of Life

This is a short story thing that I wrote as a final for one of my classes. I forget what the requirement was, but i decided to write about my grandmother. She passed away in November 2004. She was 86 years old. She lived with us for a very long time. I wr

I’ve lived a long and healthy life. In my 87 years of life, I’ve experienced many joys and hardships. I feel I have filled what some call “The Circle of Life”. I have children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren. I’ve raised my children in a stable home. I have out lived many of my family members. I have gone though many of life lessons and I thought I was ready for anything that life has left to throw my way.

In recent years, I have dealt with things that I would have never expected to happen. Age has taken its toll on me and I have become hunched over. Osteoporosis has taken a major chunk out of me as well. My legs are sore to the touch, my hip always hurts, and I have basically become bed-ridden. I now have to rely on a walker to get around. Last year I fell in my room. I used to fall a lot, but this fall is one that I will never forget. When I landed, my heel hit the nightstand. The doctors said that I broke it. After several days in the hospital, I was finally able to come home to my family.

The night that started this entire process, and will haunt me forever went like this. I was getting up out of bed to get a drink of water. I put on my slippers and I went to step down on my foot. Suddenly, pains from the depths of Hell reached up through my foot. It was almost as if I stepped down upon a bed of electric nails laced with paralyzing poison. The pain was so extreme; it threw me back into bed. I cried out as the agonizing pain exploded from my heel. My daughter-in-law rushed in to see what was wrong with me. (I live with her and my son because I cannot get around anymore.) After I explained what happened, she called the ambulance. I was so scared that something major had happened.

I was admitted to the hospital. The doctors said that I had a bone infection, and it may never heal. Over the course of a few days, I realized that there is a good chance I may never walk on my heel again. The pain was so abundant. After about a month in the hospital, they sent me to the nursing home. They hoped that I would get better with therapy. It seemed to me that it was only a last ditch effort to keep me around.

Since my youngest son lives 500 miles away and is always busy with work and my eldest daughter died from cancer about twenty years ago, I have to stay with my oldest son. But because my son and daughter-in-law are getting up in their ages and time has taken a toll on them as well, they cannot take care of me anymore. So it was our decision to put me in the nursing home, at least until I get better and can walk around by myself without their help.

About a month into my stay, my son and daughter-in-law came in with my grandson and told me some news that almost destroyed me. They told me that they had just lost their house and had to move. (We’ve always had financial problems, but we always seemed to make it.) Moving into the new house, they felt it was best for me to stay here forever. I didn’t know what to think. I ran through all possible solutions about how to allow me to come home, but they all fell into a pit. That day, I realized that I would die here in this bed.

When they left, I fell back in my bed and sighed heavily. The room seemed to be new to me, almost like the day I first came here. I never noticed it before but just now it seemed like the smell of urine and death was seeping into the room. A new feeling came over me. An uneasy feeling filled me, when I realized that this was home. That night I had trouble sleeping. They creepy yells from the lost souls down the hall disturbed me. It sent cold chills down my spine. I had been in and out of homes before, but my moral was always high then because I could come home. But now, hearing this, my moral has dropped. I have nothing to work for, nothing to look forward to. I will die here.

After about another month, I kind of got settled in. My son brought in my dresser from home, and I have pictures of my family put up all over. I had a roommate in here, but just a few days ago she was rushed to the hospital and later pronounced dead. It’s now Thanksgiving and I know it’s hard for her family, especially around the holidays like that.

I have always loved Thanksgiving. But due to my Chromes disease, I cannot eat many of the foods that I loved to eat. I did, however, make sure that I got a big slice of pumpkin pie. The food here is ok, but it’s nothing like home cooking. My youngest son sent me some pictures of his family the other day. Oh how I miss them. I know their busy, I just wish I could see them again. I was truly thankful, though, that I had company today. It was the first time in almost over a month that my son and his family was able to come sit with me for a while. We talked about things. It was nice and quiet in the room. One of my best friends tagged along too. My daughter-in-law’s mother came along with them. We’ve been friends for a long time. I’m very happy I finally got to see her. It seems of late that I have been losing my memory. My interests in reading have as soon dropped as well. I just lay around now. It was nice to have company for a change.

After they left, I was feeling depressed and sad that I couldn’t go home with them. I really felt alone. I felt that finally, once in a long time, that my family didn’t need me to get along. I was getting up, with the help of the nurses, to go to the bathroom that night. It was then when I got a sharp pain in my legs. I sat back down on the bed and got really short of breath. It was then in that instant, that my soul left my body. I was finally free from all the pain and restraints. I was not needed anymore by any of my children; they did not need me financially, so I felt it was my time to go.

My life was full and abundant with many pleasures of the earth. I laughed, I cried, but most importantly, I lived. Even thought I was forced to stay in a nursing home and die there as well, I understand it was the right decision. I am happy now that I do not have to stay in that place any longer. I wish the souls of the tormented could be relived and join me here. It was always a place I feared. Now that I am in heaven, I can watch my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren live their lives out without being on earth in pain. I am not sad that I can only watch from a distance; I am happy that I know they will, someday, join me in heaven.

    This story is dedicated to Dorothy G. Saunders. Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother; she will be sorely missed but never forgotten. R.I.P.

Author's Note

It's been 3 years since i wrote this piece, but i'm always open to comments and suggestions to improve.

Reviews

[Yaooooooo]

Overall a good read, keep up the good work and feel free to send me a request when ever..
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