11-22-2020, 06:02 PM
Oliver was bummed out. He loved seeing her but he missed his friends.
Every summer he would go and spend a month at his grandmother's house.
It was cool, nothing too bad, but he didn't know any of the kids around there
and he didn't have the easiest time making friends.
Something of a loner, he was most pleased spending time with Tommy and Ricky, his two
best friends going back to second grade. They did everything together. Took swimming lessons,
learned to fish, heck Ricky's dad even taught them all three how to ride a bike. That was the summer
of skint knees!
But this summer was different. He had a deeper sadness than missing his buddies. Oliver's grandmother
had just been diagnosed with Alzheimers and even though he was only twelve, he knew enough
from overhearing his parents talking that she wouldn't be herself for much longer. He loved his grandma.
She was a tall, strong and beautiful sixty-four year old woman with flowing blonde hair and a twinkle
in her ocean-blue eyes. You'd never know she'd just been given such horrible news by being in her
presence. Her smile as warm as the sun and her laugh contagious. She's what the younger folks
would call a "cool, hip granny". Flawless skin kept her age a secret from most. She lived a very busy,
productive life and this recent change in her health would make no difference to her one bit.
Oliver didn't want his grandma to go through this terrible ordeal. But no amount of homemade
peanut-butter chocolate chip cookies would keep this from unfolding. So he had to make the best
of the time they had left. He was a good kid. His grandmother always made a point of reminding him.
Every summer he would go and spend a month at his grandmother's house.
It was cool, nothing too bad, but he didn't know any of the kids around there
and he didn't have the easiest time making friends.
Something of a loner, he was most pleased spending time with Tommy and Ricky, his two
best friends going back to second grade. They did everything together. Took swimming lessons,
learned to fish, heck Ricky's dad even taught them all three how to ride a bike. That was the summer
of skint knees!
But this summer was different. He had a deeper sadness than missing his buddies. Oliver's grandmother
had just been diagnosed with Alzheimers and even though he was only twelve, he knew enough
from overhearing his parents talking that she wouldn't be herself for much longer. He loved his grandma.
She was a tall, strong and beautiful sixty-four year old woman with flowing blonde hair and a twinkle
in her ocean-blue eyes. You'd never know she'd just been given such horrible news by being in her
presence. Her smile as warm as the sun and her laugh contagious. She's what the younger folks
would call a "cool, hip granny". Flawless skin kept her age a secret from most. She lived a very busy,
productive life and this recent change in her health would make no difference to her one bit.
Oliver didn't want his grandma to go through this terrible ordeal. But no amount of homemade
peanut-butter chocolate chip cookies would keep this from unfolding. So he had to make the best
of the time they had left. He was a good kid. His grandmother always made a point of reminding him.
