Aging Our Way by Loe Meika
Author:Loe, Meika
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2011-03-14T16:00:00+00:00
Olga: Great-Grandparenting
Besides caring for their peers, many who are aged eighty-five and beyond continue to provide for family members. At 6:20 every morning, Olga’s caretaking routine begins, when she gets a call from her great-grandson. Then a sister calls, with stories of arthritis and a son with cancer. Eventually she speaks with her daughter who also has cancer. She says there is so much suffering everywhere, and if she can be of service she will. After a day “floating,” serving meals and checking in on others at her senior apartment complex, Olga puts some money in envelopes for her family and puts aside something special for her daughter.
My daughter has cancer and I am old, so we are giving each other these little things that we happen to have now. This (points to candy dish) was given to me by a customer, I [will give it to] my daughter…. I always kept that in my bedroom on a special shelf. Now I want to let her enjoy it for a few years. She likes blue glass, and I have piles of it.
At age ninety-seven, Olga is caring for her great-grandson most weekends, and supporting him emotionally as he begins his first job.
I have a great-grandson, age twenty-one, that was born disabled with one hand. He spends every minute of his weekends here with me. Just something we just love—we just love each other. He has a real grandmother, she never takes care of him, and I said to his mom the other day, “He calls me every morning before he goes to work.” I said, “He’s mine as much as he is yours.”
While contemporary scholarship on grandparenting is expanding, the work of great-grandparents is less acknowledged. As a great-grandparent, Olga takes on significant caretaking responsibilities that carry physical and emotional tolls as well as satisfactions. As with her children and grandchildren, Olga has taught her great-grandson the important things, like saying thank you, cleaning, and cooking. He also cares for her; his is the voice on the phone in the morning that helps her start her day.
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