I can't bring myself to ring my grandparents

[DoomDeer]

I used to ring my grandparents once every 2 weeks, just to see how they were and catch up. They live about 100 miles away. I love them to pieces and they've always been superheroes in my eyes. Invincible.

This past year they have been getting progressively worse and worse in health. My Grandad can hardly breathe, on the phone you can hear him struggling to finish his sentence without gasping. My Nan is getting forgetful, really forgetful, I'll repeat the same story at least 3 times in a conversation.

The last few times we've organised to go down to visit them we haven't been able to go, either they have been to ill or me or DD have had a cold or cough and we just can't risk giving it to my Granddad. I miss talking to them so much and I feel so guilty. I just can't bring myself to hear them sounding so frail and I know there's nothing I can do to help them. My Nan cried on the phone last time I rang.

I just feel so selfish but everytime I pick up the phone I just can't...

DoomDear hope you've managed to contact them

Yes call them.

I rang my gran last night. We had a really good chat although the conversation always turns to 'there are too many people in the world now, people need to stop having babies and what about all these immigrants...' -she's not an out and out Ukipper but her opinions are, well, forthright.

I know my DM is worries about her not wanting to leave her home and refusing to consider other options for where she might live. Most of the rest of our family live far away, and she always says 'WHY did your parents have to move to the other end of the country?' - well, I'm sad too that they live so far away but they love where they live and it makes them happy. Argh it's hard!

I phoned them, I realised how selfish I was being. I went down to visit them yesterday it was so nice just to see them and help out as much as I could. I'm planning on taking some time off work so I can go down to help out, my aunt has been doing so much she's like superwoman at the moment.

Oh well done

That's a lovely update OP, good on you.

Brilliant. And your thread made me call my 87yo mother. We have "history"and shes been breathtakingly cruel over the years but shes my mum. She will hv forgotten I phoned now but I did it. Thank you.

What a nice thread. hole

Lovely update DoomDear

Love your update.i

Your visit will have meant so much to them, too.

I came across a great app yesterday called Touchtone. You upload a photograph and it turns it into a postcard, and posts it in the mail for you. Brilliant idea. (You can do greetings cards as well).

The app is free but obviously you need to pay for the postage, which you do by buying credits.

My dad doesn't have email, so I've just sent him a postcard to cheer him up (he's not very well right now).

I've made an alarm on my phone to ring them every monday after I get back from work. My aunt said that after my family and I came down to visit my nan really perked up and my Granddad who's currently in hospital was telling them all about DD rabbit spotting from the hospital room window.

My Nan is getting very forgetful and I tend to have to repeat myself quite alot, but she's crystal clear on things that happened when her and Granddad were younger.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone. I think I needed that push to phone them/ stop thinking about how it was effecting me and remember that it was effecting them more.

Now, to just make my Sis realise this is really not the time to start a family argument...there's some sort of feud between her and my cousin which meant that she wasn't able to visit my Nan. Normally I would stick up for her but in the circumstances with my Aunt under a huge amount of stress I said I think it was best if it was left until things calm down.

BIWI, thanks for mentioning that app (I love a good app) I can send some postcards with DD on them. I think they'd love that :D

Not Touchtone, but Touchnote