It was one of those nights

This past Saturday Pat and I made the trek back up to Greenville, SC. We had stopped there on our way back from Asheville due to a situation with my grandmother's Parkinsons last week. After rallying as much of my family as I could most decided they would come this weekend to visit our Nana and try to up her spirits. I couldn't put in all that hard work to get everyone there and not see them myself!

So Saturday we packed up our bags and hit the road. I'll have to admit getting to the hospital and seeing the shock on my grandmother's face made the trip worth it.

She was checking out her hair :)

 Pat and I got to spend a couple hours with just my grandmother. We made sure to bring her caffeine free Diet Coke, her favorite. The hospital had been serving her Pepsi and she was just not having it! So the arrival of her favorite was like a beacon of hope for my sweet Nana. I haven't seen her that excited about a food or drink in years.

Would not let go of that Diet Coke.

We spent a lot of our time talking to her about the things that make her happy. Parkinson's disease is a terrible disease. With it comes severe depression and a lot of people start to have Dementia over time. We are at the Dementia stage at this point. So talking about the things that make her happy are so important. Saturday, that topic was her great-grandkids and the pictures they had drawn for her. She lit up so much when she saw them that I just knew we needed to put them somewhere she could always see them. Pat and I got to working and came up with this-

As wonderful as it was to surprise Nana by showing up again nothing will beat the look on her face when she saw her baby sister walk in the room. My Aunt Jane's trip was a surprise for her and there wasn't a dry eye in the house when she walked into the room.

That night my whole family (the half that had been able to make it in to town) went to dinner as my grandmother rested. It was one of those nights where I just looked around the table and felt so much joy and peace. I come from a big family and I relish in the times that some of us (if not all!) can get together. It wasn't the best circumstances that caused everyone to get together, but I sure am grateful that my grandmother is loved so much that everyone came to Greenville. 

Half of our wonderfully loud fam damily :)

Now I'm starting off the week with a full heart.

It really was just one those nights that was just oh so good for the soul.