My Great-Grandma

My great-grandma lives in a nursing home. She didn’t always live there.

My great-grandma sits in a wheelchair now. She can’t walk anymore. But she used to.

My great-grandma doesn’t always know me these days. But when I hold her hand, she smiles at me. She knows me even if she doesn’t. 

We sit in the big cafeteria. Great-Grandma has trouble chewing now, so she eats soft foods. Tonight they give her a bowl of matzo-ball soup. I bring the spoon to her lips.

“Is it good?” I ask.

She nods to let me know I can give her more.

Great-Grandma used to make the greatest matzo-ball soup in the world.

I look at her and see the gold locket she always wears around her neck. Inside, there’s a tiny picture of Great-Grandpa.

Mom and my little brother, Zach, have been in the gift shop. Now they come into the cafeteria to meet us. Zach is carrying a small bunch of flowers.

“Hi, Great-Grandma!” says Zach. He hands the flowers to her.

Great-Grandma looks at the flowers. She looks at Zach. She doesn’t remember him.

“That’s not Great-Grandma!” Zach yells and runs down the hall, crying.

I want to cry, too. I follow Zach and ask him if he remembers the time Great-Grandma told us about her locket. 

“Yes,” he says, sniffling.

Before Great-Grandma first went into the nursing home, she showed us her locket. “Your great-grandpa gave it to me on our 50th wedding anniversary. He told me he’d always be close to my heart.”

“Aren’t you afraid that you’ll forget him?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Love is a light in your heart that lives forever.”

I look at Zach now. His eyes are still wet. “Don’t worry,” I say. “Great-Grandma’s love for us will never fade away.”

I take his hand, and we go back into the cafeteria.

There is music playing, and Great-Grandma taps the arm of the wheelchair. She holds the flowers in her other hand. I know she’s still there inside. Some people just see her as an old lady with white hair. They don’t know her the way I do.

When it’s time to go, I kiss Great-Grandma’s cheek and she smiles. I wish I could help her be the way she was before, even though I can’t. But I believe she knows deep down that the love in our hearts will live forever.