Getting old sucks

Not me for once. Well yes, I am getting older, but I am not *that* old.

I got an e-mail this morning from my mom. Her message was to tell me that my nearly 84 year old grandmother was in a car accident and totaled her car. She is fine as is the other party. Yes, my grandmother is still driving. This is, however, her second accident in one year. Both of which she swears were not her fault.

My cousin was the one who called my mom. She was at work, her police officer husband at home sleeping since he was working nights. He got a call from his buddy telling him that my grandmother had an accident and will need someone to take her home from the ER. My grandmother was not the one to call anyone.

My cousin shows up at the ER with my grandmother wondering how she found out. (Duh.) Cousin tells her she is here to take her home and my grandmother asks her instead of taking her home, drop her at a car rental place so she can get a car. She can’t live without one. My cousin called my mom who told her to take her home and tell her to rest, then my mom calls her to talk.

Wow it sucks watching your loved ones age. When my grandmother visited in June of this past year I was shocked to see how little she was. When I was a kid she was 5’2”. She seemed almost proud that she is 4’8” now and everyone comments on how tiny she is. Her mind is sharp and she still kicks our butts (sometimes without cheating) at games. She doesn’t see herself in the mirror. She is tiny except for that 4” hump on her back. How can my strong Swedish grandmother be aging like this?

Par for the course when my mom called her later this morning the first thing she asked was, “how did you find out?” My mom scolded her for the fact that she had to find out from my cousin, who thankfully called her immediately. It sounds as though the conversation was a difficult one trying to keep my grandmother on track with discussing the accident and potentially her need to move out of her house and not her ailing dog.

Because this is her second accident in a year and due to her age she will be undergoing an assessment through the police department to see if she can retain her license. Despite the fact that she was ticketed she evidently had plenty to say about the other guy in the accident, he ran a red light and was speeding she said. It does no good for her to lie because my cousin’s husband will be getting a copy of the police report tonight when he goes on duty to find out exactly what happened. How bad is it that none of us believe her version?

Sadly I have to admit that about the best thing that could happen in this situation is that she lose her license. It will create a lot of scrambling on our part to get her moved into town to an apartment where there is public transit, teaching her how to use the bus system, and then booking her on buses to spend the holidays with family. But the costs of not doing these things and letting her continue to drive are far more costly.