I just opened the refrigerator and saw the bag of clementines (gotta have one in each stocking) and AGAIN I was reminded that when my ggfather had the 1918 Flu he was given a prescription for oranges because they were so rare that regular ass people couldn't afford them.
He lived.
Tetanus killed him in his 60s.
#Vaccinate
People seem to be responding to this public service announcement, so here's my ggfather in about 1907.
His name was Reinhold Heinrich.
His influence is why his daughter quit school to work at GE in 7th grade instead of staying in the seamstress apprenticeship he wanted her to have.
His influence is why I am not afraid to fix anything except actual electricity.
That's my phobia.
He was kind and sweet.
And tetanus killed him.
Here's my ggmother who died when my grandmom was 11 because she had gallbladder surgery and threw a clot.
Guess what killed my mom?
She had vulvar cancer surgery and threw a clot.
Over 100 years later.
Y'all who have surgery and can walk?
Get up and WALK.
Because you don't want to be poo-pooing your discomfort and ending up dead.
There's tonight's PSA.
In two days my grandmom would be 117 and I am going to tell you about her.
Because she was #Autistic and amazing.
I was 15.
I'd been taking care of her after school since I was 12.
@Shelter I’m so sorry that happened to you. That must have been so deeply scary.
Well.
No.
This is how I work - recognize the crisis.
Handle the crisis.
Fall apart from the crisis long after.
@Coffee_and_Salt
And it just keeps happening my whole life.
But I am AWESOME in a crisis.
We're German.
We fix everything we can and don't cry for ourselves.
We're goddamn bricks.
And when we finally cry it terrifies everyone because it's a lifetime of tears at once.
@Shelter i respect that.
@Shelter I’m guessing you get the call when others are in their own crisis as well.
I did.
Until I had my own and needed help.
@Shelter were you left to fend?
@Coffee_and_Salt
My friends to whom I responded immediately in a crisis told me that I was overreacting when I had a crisis because I was never weak during theirs.
I lost a lot of friends. Due to a TBI.
@Shelter oh wow. that, pardon my french, is some bullshit.
@Coffee_and_Salt
Turns out they could handle my autistic masking, but when I didn't have the capability I was too weird and too sensitive.
This is why I don't bother anymore.
I'm never masking it again.
@Shelter @Coffee_and_Salt Same. I do not seem like the kind of person who would immediately spring into focused action in an emergency ... but that's exactly who I am.
@Shelter @Coffee_and_Salt I wonder if that's an ND thing.
@CheekyGinger @Shelter that’s a solid question.
@CheekyGinger @Shelter back in a day; I was in charge of monitoring the emergency system for many seniors in various states of health at and in their homes. We became friends, the big no no of the job. care but don’t become friends. Because you have to be ready to respond when they have an emergency. When, not if.
Learned a lot about myself. I could do both surprisingly well. Often.
Did not understand at the time the toll it took.
My best to those who are awesome in crisis. It’s got a cost.
@Shelter That's me, something's going wrong, I jump in, process later
@Coffee_and_Salt
@Shelter That's so awful. I'm sorry you had to deal with that.
I appreciate that.
But my grandmom was my other mom.
She deserved way more than we were able to give, and I am mostly regretful that finding her put her in a nursing home where she was neglected and we couldn't get that solved.
I'm deeply grateful that my mom dropped dead.
I know that sounds terrible.
@Shelter No it doesn't. Truly. Or at least not on your part.
People don't have that reaction to their parents without reason, I know from experience.
My grandmother wasted away in a bed in an institution.
Both of her children ended up sitting down and dying suddenly.
I feel like she gave them that gift.
Even though her son was a dickhead.
I want my mom back, but I'm so glad she didn't ever suffer.
I will begin by saying that the day I came home from school and saw the inside door open and found the porch storm door locked and saw my grandmother's leg on the floor and had to run next door to ask for a knife to cut the screen to open the door was one of the worst days of my life.
But without my grandmom I wouldn't have thought to get a knife and cut the screen.
Life is messy and awesome and sad and painful.
#MyGrandmom