Dreamland

The Old Grandmothers Home

I'm with my wife, we're going to visit my grandmother. She's just turned 90 years old, and my parents have put her in a rest home. I park our car in the parking structure next to the building and we walk in.

I've never been here before, the place is huge! We walk past room after room, all of them have very old ladies in them. Some of the women look really ancient, almost mummified, and most of them are sleeping. We finally find my grandmother's room. She's glad to see us, and gives me a big hug. "There's someone else here who would like to see you," she says, introducing me to an old woman who looks vaguely familiar.

"I'm your grandmother's grandmother, I'm 130 years old," she says. "I have some advice for you: don't buy items on credit that you can't afford. Gettting saddled with debt is the worst thing you can do."

"Yeah, I know about that, I had problems with credit cards when I was younger," I reply. "Now I keep them paid up, I learned my lesson. Thanks for thinking of me, though."

I ask my grandmother if she'd like to go out for lunch with us, she agrees. My great grandmother says she's not hungry, "I don't need to eat much any more, you know."

My wife says she'd rather stay and talk with my great grandmother, so I leave with my grandmother. As we're walking to the car, she says "Can we just go shopping instead? I'm not really hungry either, and I would like to buy some new clothes."

"OK, whatever you want to do is fine with me," I reply. "I do have a question, though. Is that lady you introduced me to really your grandmother? Excuse me if this sounds rude, but I thought she passed away many years ago."

"Yes, it's really her," she replies. "If you manage to get accepted into this rest home, you never die. Some of the grandmothers in here are close to 200 years old. Often they choose to let some people think they've passed on, it's easier that way. As we get older we sleep much more and eat much less, time seems to slow down. Visiting with family can be stressful. The oldest ones may only wake for a few hours once or twice a year to see a few close relatives. My grandmother wanted to meet you today, since she was awake. She said she had some advice for you..."