Visiting Greatdaddy

Today was spent mostly on the road. There was a Blackburn Institute breakfast event featuring former HEW Cabinet Secretary David Matthews this morning at 7:30 AM, so we left Monroeville at the crack of dawn in order to make it to the event. Dr. Matthews' talks and discussion groups are always interesting, and this one proved to be no exception. He asked the group to describe and discuss our generation, and he asked very questions and took notes throughout the discussion. It was fascinating to hear to commentary of some of the Blackburn student fellows, many of whom were clearly more interested in sounding smart than in coming up with accurate descriptions and others of whom were sincerely trying to give thoughtful, well-reasoned responses. All-in-all, it was a very worthwhile hour and a half.

Following breakfast, we met my grandmother, Maw Maw, at Books-a-Million and preceded towards Birmingham for the real purpose of our trip north. I really wanted to be sure to see my great-grandfather, Greatdaddy, before going back to England. He is 93 and lives in an assisted living facility outside of Birmingham- but he was older than 90 when he moved there! For most of my life, Greatdaddy and his wife Nana lived together in their house in Eutaw, Alabama. He was in perfect health until she died a few years ago, after which he began to slowly lose his memory, though his physical health remains excellent. He knows who most of his relatives are but gets some of us confused with each other at this point. Thus, I decided it would probably be a good idea to ask Maw Maw, who is his daughter, to go with us to see him. She agreed and also invited her sister, Aunt Judy, and brother-in-law, Uncle Wayne to join us. They came and brought their young grandson, Holden, whom I had never met before. 

Though Greatdaddy was somewhat confused about who some of us were, he seemed to enjoy having us stop by. I took the Creative Memories digital wedding album that Mom made for my and showed it to him. He was at my wedding, but he doesn't remember it, and he liked seeing pictures of everyone. 

After completing our visit with him, the six of us (Maw Maw, Aunt Judy, Uncle Wayne, Holden, Will, and me) went to Cracker Barrel for lunch, after which Will, Maw Maw, and I headed back south.