Respect for one's elders

My grand-folks are pretty cool.

Grandpops (http://www.famouscanadians.net/name/w/wrightjerry.php) is one smart dude. He has 30 patents, a distinguished service award and got a medal presented to him by the King.
Like I said, he's a smart cookie.

As was grandma. She worked as a physiotherapist in Scotland during WWII, which is how she met gramps.

It's really sad to see what the ravages of time have done to them. Last time I saw grandma she made eye contact with me and seemed to respond to my tone of voice. Her Alzheimer's has gotten to the point that she can't even feed herself and has severe aphasia. It's like she's regressed to being only a few months old. She sits in a chair most of the day. She used to be in a room by herself for most of this time because she used to shout gibberish and it was disruptive to the others. Now she's quite docile and mostly sleeps or stares off into space. I really hope she's not cognizent of what's going on. Still, it was nice to see a small part of the once vital, smart and independent woman I remember.

Last time I saw grandpa he showed me all the things in his house of many years he's about to sell. Talk about your walks down memory lane. We looked through some photo albums and he told me some cool shit about his service during WWII and how he revolutionalized aircraft navigation by inventing the R-theta computer. We went to visit grandma together and fed her dinner at her nursing home.

The next day, he told my dad that he'd received a visit from a nice young lady with a car. When dad suggested that it might have been me, gramps said he didn't think so. He remembered who I was while I was there, I think, but he did seem a bit confused towards the end.

I wish I'd gotten to know them better when I had the chance instead of being a snotty brat and thinking their stories were boring.