This week has been a very eventful week for our family. A place at a nursing home had finally come up for my grandmother which meant saying goodbye to the family home at Blackburn for all of us.
In the build up to the big day Dave and I went around to Grandma's house in Blackburn to cook meals for her and my mother to help with the preparations, which were mostly psychological. Everyone bore a fear that grandma would suddenly turn around and refuse to go, which would have been a small disaster for the family. Mum is no longer well enough to care for her, Aunty Cathy is working full time. So on the last night in the family house, while Grandma sat on her favourite chair watching "The Biggest Loser" on the box, mum packed undies and nighties into a small suitcase and D and I made bolognaise sauce.
The day Grandma left the family home it was hot. Auny Cathy, Daniel, Dave, Grandma, Mum and I all had lunch together for the last time in her kitchen. After lunch I think Grandma just wanted to get it all over and done with. Mum and I frantically assembled a frame for an austere picture of Grandpa in his dog collar to take while Grandma waited in the car with her suitcase. The drive to the "Strathdon" was like taking the queen on a funereal motorcade tour. No one said much. I was pretty upset and hoped that grandma did not see how teary I was underneath my sunglasses.
When we arrived at "Strathdon" grandma's reaction was of genuine delight. She liked her room with all the familiar bits of furniture, and the fact that she had a huge bathroom all to herself. She was impressed by the immediate attention of the Sister in charge (to whom she announced very proudly that "she was a nurse too") and the maintenance man who was scheduled to come and hang her paintings. She was comforted that there was someone on call 24 hours a day and all she had to do was press a green button next to her bed. She admired her new television and the view from the window. It was a success!
Grandma's first day in her new room at "Strathdon".
Dave and I managed to do a few other things this week. We caught up with my Dad and had coffee in Southbank, and on a separate occassion saw the amazing Sydney Nolan exhibition with Petra my sister. Next week I promise, Dave, it's going to be like more of an "Aussie Holiday".
Sidney Nolan Ned Kelly 1946. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Gift of Sunday Reed. 1977.
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