Visiting Great Grandpa

The boys and I try to make it to visit my grandfather at least once a week.  He is in the Alzheimer's unit of a nursing home.  He is very comfortable there and seems to enjoy himself.  Each visit is a unique experience.  Garhett and Brenden are convinced that great grandpa lives at his doctors house.  They like to help themselves to the snacks that are available for the residents, which I think they earn due to the numerous other residents that approach them.  Our boys are often asked if they are twins on every trip there.  To which they reply...NOTHING!!  They don't choose to converse with anyone other than grandpa.  Today, a lady named Pat was trying to tickle Garhett and as she crept closer and closer in her wheelchair, he moved farther and farther away. If he could have climbed inside my shirt to hide from her, he would have.  They were throwing an exercise ball back and forth and hit a few people in the back of their head just a few times!  Lucky for the boys that most of the people they hit were asleep and if they had been awake probably wouldn't remember what had happened.  Visiting grandpa is new adventure each time as well.  They have been offered money to help certain residents escape, they have been asked if they can help people get up, I heard one nice lady ask them if they knew what was for dinner.  Most of the other residents seem to be happy just watching the boys play.  It must come from a place in their minds that holds the memories of their own youth.  Remembering those distant memories must make them happy.  I see them sitting with smiles on their faces and hear them say goodbye to the boys as they pass by.  Taking a couple of four year olds to what most people see as a final stage in ones life allows a little bit of life to breeze back in, even if only an hour at a time.  I sit and listen to them tell me stories of twins they knew, or how they are a twin themselves.  The boys bring back memories of their own children.  Garhett and Brenden do much more than play...I think I'll keep that part a secret!