Dear Diary,
Remembering Grandpa Clarence’s Birthday
A Couple of Memories
I do have to say that I feel a little odd right now because today I am in loving memory of my grandpa, Clarence V. Fox. If he was alive today, would have been 99 years old but in 2003, at the age of 90 – 5 months short of his 91st birthday – he passed away from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Today, I am remembering him as he was before the disease took over his body and he became someone else I did not know anymore. Grandpa Clarence, a teacher, coach, father, grandfather, uncle, brother, and husband, was one man who has changed lives of many students and family members. He was a mentor for many people in his days of teaching. I even remember struggling in elementary math – fractions – and he took the time to help me learn fractions and other types of math throughout the years. He never learned algebra in his teaching days so I showed him how algebra linked into math and he was one tough student, lol, but he did learn enough to get by.
With Grandpa Clarence gone now – eight years – only memories is now the only connection between the two of us. I remember a time – I believe it was in 2000 or 2001 – I visited Grandpa Clarence at the nursing home he was living at with my parents in New Mexico. I was a little nervous seeing him but once I saw his face, I gave him a kiss on the chin, and a sparkle came over his eyes and a tiny smile as if a memory from him was coming into focus. My mom’s husband LLL and I exchanged glances and thought the same thing that he probably had a spark of memory and knew who I was from the kiss I had given him and we both learned that should NEVER underestimate a person when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease. That moment in time was captured by the heart for as long as I remember now myself.
Grandpa Clarence is missed dearly today. Even though Grandpa is no longer alive, I will still wish him a
Happy Birthday, Grandpa Clarence!
today and always. I do wonder, if my grandparents Myra and Clarence were alive, what they would be doing today if their health was fair, good, excellent – grandpa with no dementia and grandma with no heart health issues.
Today 1
Ahhh, Dear Diary, I have to work today – leaving here a little after 12 pm to catch the bus to be at work by 1 pm. The weather is definitely cooler and nicer at this time and should be fairly nice today and tomorrow with 50%, again, thunderstorms on Wednesday. We do need the rain but we surely do not need the damaging effects of thunderstorms and lightning anymore. We have had lost a couple of trees in the yard here throughout the years I have lived here because of damaging winds and lightning cracks close to the ground. In fact, not remembering exactly the date it was now, lol, the last Thunderstorm that was severe and damaging had cut out our electricity out for 3 hours. It was a Monday morning and I was going to be having my shower, and ended up taking the shower by flashlight, lol.
