It's not warm when she's away

 

Megan's grandmother Meme fell a lot lately at the assisted living place. She even broke a rib. Of course, her grandfather was doing well, he had plenty of friends there and even did a Ti Chi class once a week. It seemed he hardly noticed what was going on with Meme.

"I just don't know why it has to be you?" Cori didn't mean to sound so upset, but Caitlin was spending so much time with Meme at the hospital lately with cognitive tests and now they wanted to send her away for rehab that was not close by.

"We just have to do what we can for the both of them," Megan felt it was best to keep Gramps in his usual routine. Sure, he worried about his wife, but he liked getting updates from Megan. 

It was exhausting. Cori didn't know if they could keep this up. Before he knew it, Meme was going from good to worse at the rehab facility. He'd been with Megan on a Monday with their children at the  hospital before Meme went to rehab. Her appetite was good and she was so excited about Thanksgiving. She talked of extended family who weren't really family, but she talked of them as if they were her grandchildren too. A week later, Meme didn't know where she was. She wanted to go back to Florida. Why would she ever want to be here? She talked of people that neither Megan nor Cori knew.

All the while, he had the pizzeria to worry about. He wanted Megan home with him and the kids. The holidays were coming. 

"Do you think she might have a UTI?" Sammie asked. 

"A UTI?"

"It's a urinary thing, but it seems to go hand and hand with dementia," Sammie told him. Of course, she was there to take care of Cora and the baby. No questions asked. 

It only worried Cori more. What did this mean? He texted Megan about it. She questioned the nurses too. Now Meme was back in the hospital again.

Thankfully, there was Gregory who was great at taking over the pizzeria. He did everything that was asked of him. Cori was glad he'd found him for managing. He knew everything from pizza dough, to prepping the toppings for the pizza. Even if this new chapter with aging grand parents felt to be taking a toll on his family, he was grateful he had such an understanding crew to keep his business going.