“Time change? I don’t know”
7 situations with my demented grandpa that make you laugh and cry
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Dementia is a shitty disease and of course it’s not really a laughing matter. But some situations are just too cute that you have to smile! My favorites from the last few years.
Admittedly, if my grandpa asks me the same thing three times in ten minutes, I don’t find it that funny. But sometimes he makes sayings or thoughts that we can’t control ourselves and just have to laugh – how absurd ideas can one come up with? Seven wonderful examples from our everyday lives that made us want to laugh and cry at the same time:
1. Charge your cell phone with the shaver charging cable
Let’s start harmlessly, because we all mix up a cable, a key or a name from time to time. The latter is of course a classic in old age anyway. But when my grandfather arrived in desperation with his cell phone and a cable that obviously had a completely different plug than the one needed for the cell phone, we had to smile for a moment. In the end everything was clarified: the cable could Charging the razor and the actual cell phone charging cable charging the cell phone – a small technical miracle had happened for my grandpa.
2. Using your razor on the phone?
Okay, things are getting better now. Because somehow my grandfather seems to have taken a shine to the combination of razor and telephone. My maternal grandfather and my paternal grandmother live in the same residential complex, just a few hallways apart. My grandpa knocks on grandma’s door and says his cell phone no longer works. She goes over to his apartment with him, he shows her his razor and says it just doesn’t work anymore and he can’t call anyone anymore. She explains to him that it is also his razor, which he can only use to remove his beard. Another “new” realization in his life!
3. Top up your credit with the charging cable
I’m saying you could laugh and cry about these situations at the same time. They’re cute, and kind of sad too. But let’s try to stay on the laughing side! Next situation: My grandfather arrives at our house – once again desperate. An announcement comes on his cell phone that his credit has been used up. He takes out the charging cable and asks if we can use it to charge it again. Hmmm, that would be innovative, but it wasn’t possible…
4. Principle Advent calendar with a difference
Let’s move on to the Christmas season. My mom has been so sweet for years and has made an Advent calendar for me, my brother and my grandpa. So she puts the little bags on my grandpa’s table. After about a week, she asks him on the phone what was in his calendar today – silence… When we go to his place a few days later, the Advent calendar is no longer there. We then found the 24 empty bags in a drawer. But at least he was happy 24 times at once.
5. Old birthday cards can still be recycled
You can’t blame my grandpa for not living sustainably! But reusing birthday cards might not be so appropriate after all. He saw it differently – and this year gave my grandma a card with a different year and a different name on it. Well, we all took it with humor. To this day we still wonder why he had this card and not the person to whom it was addressed years ago…
6. “Time change? I don’t know”
Oh, it’s really wonderful. A few years ago my grandfather moved into the residential complex mentioned above. The time change was on the same weekend. We explained this to him and set his watches with him. He asks completely out of nowhere, because he’s never experienced that before, whether this will be done now because he’s moved. So remember: moving means time change. Or maybe not. But in general, my grandpa is experiencing a lot of things for the first time in his life. The hundredth cappuccino is his first; he has never been to the restaurant and it is the first time he has seen the shop.
7. Fix the hotel?
I don’t know exactly when my grandfather’s last trip to a hotel was. Maybe he didn’t know that there is always a hairdryer available these days – and some people prefer their own. But when we went on a family weekend in the Harz Mountains and he unpacked an electricity meter, several flashlights, batteries and other tools in the hotel room, we asked ourselves: When would you need all of this in a hotel and what would you like to use it for this weekend? In the end he probably didn’t need it because it was still there on the day of departure.