Nana 91st Birthday - Part 2

The older you get, the more you get to celebrate. That's my theory. On Monday, September 15, 2014, Sharon helped Nana further celebrate her birthday by bringing refreshments to the Community Room in Houston Ridge Apartment Complex.

There was cookies, pretzels, chips and cold drinks for all. This was a generous way for Sharon to thank the neighbors. Nana's neighbors are wonderful. For her birthday, Chuck got signatures from almost all the residents on a birthday card for Nana. Chuck, Bud, Fay and others check on her and provide social contact without Nana having to leave the parking lot. 

Below is a picture of Nana with Chuck, Bud and some of her other neighbors. How lucky is Nana!

                                  Nana with her neighbors in the Community Room

                                                            September 15, 2014

Nana's 91st Birthday September 2014

Nana just celebrated her 91st birthday! She was born Saturday, September 15, 1923.

She shares her birthday year with one of her favorite celebrities - Bob Barker. He was the long-time host of Price is Right until his retirement a few years ago. Like Nana, he is still going strong.  

Getting to be 91 would be an accomplishment for anyone but after the difficult life Nana experienced, it's even more cause for celebration.  A childhood of extreme poverty with a drunken father and bed-ridden mother led to her adult life, where she worked too hard - at home and at her factory job. Despite all her struggles, she managed to raise four pretty decent kids. Not an alcoholic or drug addict among us. That's a testimony to Nana's discipline and devotion to her family.

     "I'm lucky I survived." Nana said when I complimented her on her longevity.
     "Why do you say that?" I asked.
     "When I was just a little girl, I remember seeing Daddy head outside with a small bundle - a baby Mom miscarried."
     "Did he bury it?" I asked. She'd never mentioned this to me before.
     "No, he threw it down the hole in the old out house."

I shudder at the image of that treatment for a poor baby who never made it to it's first breath. But in the 1920's, especially for families as poor as Nana's, babies were born - and died - at home. 

Today, Nana's life is filled with her family, game shows, and keeping up with the daily news. She has a zest for life that many half her age don't possess. The fact that she still lives independently, even drives a little, is something many seniors would envy. 

I celebrate having Nana in my life, not just on her birthday, but every day. 

                                      Nana 91st Birthday
                                       September 2014
 

Nana and Her News

Nana is all about News and Weather. She starts her day by riding her stair chair to the bottom of the steps to snatch the Williamsport Sun Gazette from her door handle. Thanks to neighbor Chuck, her first news of the day is available without even walking outside. 

The Sun Gazette waits on her footstool while she watches WNEP Channel 16 for a replay of the early morning news and weather show. Most days, Joe Snedeker delivers the weather in his clownish style. Nana’s not crazy about him, but suffers through his broadcast to know the weather for the day and week ahead.

Nana saves the Sun Gazette until after breakfast. When I call at 9am, she’s usually just settling into her velvet blue rocker to read. The first thing she does is check the back page for the local weather map. Especially if it’s close to time for my monthly visit, she likes to make sure I know the weather for decisions about packing my clothes.

Nana has another use for the daily newspaper.

                                                                                    
“You know what they say. The newspaper is the best way to make sure you know what day it is.” She laughs about this often on our morning phone call.
 

When you’re retired like Nana, weekdays do tend to all be alike.

The next news update comes at noon, immediately following The Price is Right. Again the choice is WNEP. Marisa Burke delivers the news while Tom Clark reports on the weather. Both have been with Channel 16 for decades and feel like old friends to Nana.

After 1:30pm, Nana makes her daily trip to the Weis Store in Montgomery to get a copy of the Standard Journal. This small paper covers the news ‘down the line’—the towns of Watsontown, Milton and Lewisburg. Nana especially likes to read the Police Blotter to find out if she knows anyone who’s in trouble with the law.

Nana stays up to date all day. At 4pm, WNEP is back on the air with local news and weather—and at 5pm and at 6pm. At 6:30pm Nana likes to watch World News with Brian Williams. It means changing to Channel 28, but Nana only likes Brian—she’s on a first name basis with him it seems— to deliver her World News.

Bedtime for Nana is never before 10:20pm. At 10pm, Nana switches to Channel 16-2 for the Ten o’clock news. She especially likes when Kurt Aaron is giving the weather. As she reminds me, Kurt is a local boy from Hughesville, although this ‘boy’ is probably in his 40’s now. 

In addition to the SunGazette and Channel 16, Nana keeps up with the weekly papers. She subscribes to The Luminary, another small town paper— this one for the Muncy and Montgomery area. During the month, Nana saves the Luminaries for me to take home and read. She used to get me a subscription, but Virginia mail delivery doesn’t appear to make newspapers a priority. Many weeks, my copies were either delivered to a distant neighbor or didn’t arrive at all. I told Nana I was OK getting the news a little late. 

Others papers include the weekly Lycoming Shopper, a free publication with, in my opinion, mostly advertisements. Another free paper, Webb Weekly, arrives by mail on Wednesdays. The founder Jim Webb died a few years ago, but his son Jim Jr. has taken over as editor. Neither of these weeklies interests me, but Nana reads both of them faithfully. 

For someone who’s almost 91, Nana’s desire to stay informed and up-to-date is proof of her continued zest for life.

I appreciate Nana’s interest in the news and weather. Even though I live over 300 miles away, her daily updates keep me feeling connected to her and to my hometown.

Thank You Nana for being all about News and Weather!

Nana and her Sun Gazette
August 2014

Nana's Neighborhood

Nana lives in Houston Ridge, a senior apartment complex. She’s moved there March 1993 after selling her home on Melvina Street in Montgomery, PA. After decades of home ownership, Nana was ready to give up the headaches. Like evicting a swarm of angry bees that bored into her bedroom walls. Like plumbing problems and having to replace a rotting roof. Like teenage neighbors who terrorized her with threatening phone calls during late night hours. Us four kids were ready too—to not have to mow her grass, shovel her snow and trim her lilac bushes. 

Downsizing wasn’t fun for Nana. It was a challenge to clean out a two story, two bedroom house with an attic to fit into a small one bedroom apartment. Leaving behind her washing machine was Nana’s biggest regret. She still misses her GE Washing Machine with the mini-basket for small loads. Converting to coin-operated laundry facilities used by all the other residents didn’t sit well with Nana. 

Even with the loss of her precious washing machine, the advantages of senior apartment living couldn’t be denied. A giant dumpster for trash was just steps away from her door. No more smelly garbage cans and monthly bills for garbage collection. The view from her balcony created a post card worthy vista. Fields with rows of corn or soybeans and the Pennsylvania Mountains—lush green in the summer and crimson in the fall. Much better than neighbor kids ripping through her grass on bikes and unleashed dogs making her back yard a bathroom. 

As with any neighborhood, Nana’s had some good neighbors and some not so good. The good ones linger in our memory while the not-so-good ones faded away. For most of the last twenty one years, Nana’s downstairs neighbor was Hazel. Over the years, Nana and Hazel had their spats. However, in the later years, they seemed to realize the value of their friendship. Hazel and Nana both celebrated birthdays in September. Hazel was nine years older than Nana and enjoyed the luxury of living on her own with the help of her three daughters. When the ambulance came last May after Hazel experienced a fall, it was the last time we saw her. At 98, she went to live in a local nursing home. In June this year, Hazel died at the age of 99, just three months shy of her 100^th birthday. A good neighbor and a sweet lady Nana and I won’t forget. 

One of Nana’s current neighbors is Chuck. A widower, Chuck’s constant companion is his little dog Griz who accompanies him wherever he goes, whether to the mailboxes or in Chuck’s truck to go to the store. For many years, Chuck has delivered Nana’s morning paper to her door every morning. He does this service free of charge for Nana and a few others who would have trouble walking out to the paper boxes early in the morning. Chuck’s a veteran who also used to work in home health care. Maybe that’s why he’s so compassionate and kind, but he’s also fun. He teases Nana all the time about taking her square dancing on a Saturday night. 

Nana lives alone but I know in her neighborhood she’s not really alone. Chuck makes sure her paper is picked up each morning and, if not, he has phone numbers for all her kids. Many other neighbors, like Bud, Haley, Fay, Ruth and Kathy, always inquire about Nana during my visits. I know if she needed help, any of them would be there for her.  

When Nana was in a nursing home for six weeks last year, she asked every day, “When can I go home?” Returning to her senior apartment last September, Nana knew she wasn’t just returning to her neighborhood, she was truly going home.   

Melvina Street, Winter 1978

Melvina Street, Fall 1989

Nana at Houston Ridge, Spring 2013

Nana and Chuck, September 2013

Chuck and Griz, June 2014

Nana Mother's Day 2014

 

Another year, another Mother’s Day to celebrate with Nana. It’d be easy to take this opportunity for granted. I don’t. I’m grateful for every day that Nana's in my life, not just Mother’s Day. Since Mother’s Day last year, Nana defied the odds to be here this year.

When cellulitis put her in the hospital last July, she was so sick I didn’t think she’d live to see another birthday, let alone another Mother’s Day. No one who saw her on the first day of her stay in Muncy Skilled Nursing Home would have bet on her coming home. Never bet against Nana. In six weeks, she went from being so weak she needed help getting from the wheelchair into bed to steering her walker down the hall like a Nascar driver racing for the checkered flag.

 

Nana and I always celebrate Mother’s Day a week early. Our traditional Mother’s Day dinner is a trip to The Fence in Lewisburg. Fish sandwich, tartar sauce on the side, applesauce and coffee with three creams. A Mother’s Day feast for Nana.

Nana and Diane at

The Fence Lewisburg

May 4, 2014

When Nana was 39, her mother passed away. Grandma Tilburg died in 1962 after years of being sick and bedridden. I’ve had 25 more years to celebrate Mother’s Days with Nana than Nana did with her mother. I’m a lucky girl. 

 

 'Picture of a picture' Nana keeps on her dresser

 of young Grandma Tilburg