I hadn’t seen Trudy for a while, but she was excited when I walked in.  I am always amazed by her memory–the first thing she asked was about my trip to Roanoke. I had gone home late last week and she remembered!  Earlier last week I had gone to visit the Chancellorsville battlefield with my civil war class. I sent her a post card and she told me how she had gotten it and was glad to receive it. The postcard had Stonewall Jackson on the front and we talked a while how I had seen where he was shot and killed. She shared what she had learned in school about the Civil War and it was neat to see how much she actually remembered. After catching up for a while, we went to play Scrabble in the game room. We came to a couple standpoints throughout the game but she always came up with a big word to help solve the problem. We ended up finishing the game with a few letters left we weren’t able to use but nonetheless had a fun time. We went to her room after to talk a little more, and she showed me a sheet she had gotten from a friend that told a story of an old Indian legend and how those in the tribe were taught to respect their elders. She told me how respect is what a lot of people today lack, and if her mother was still around, she wouldn’t have any part of it. I had to leave after that to get back to classes, but I’m looking forward to going next week!

On this stormy day we drove over to visit our grandmas and I found Trudy eating lunch in the cafeteria.  Due to a longer visit today we were able to go play Scrabble in the common room. We don’t talk much while we play, just because I think we’re both concentrating on the game. I need to especially to hold my own (she’s so much better than me!). I kept only being able to come up with 3 letter words while she was spelling out 6 to 7 letter words. But I guess they say with age comes wisdom! We finished the game and I had to go catch my ride but she said she was going to stay in the activity room to wait for the director and that today they were going to play cards. I’ve always been interested in learning to bridge, I asked if maybe she could teach me, but she said she used to play that long ago and doesn’t remember anymore. I probably wouldn’t be able to remember how to play at 93 either!

Today I visited Trudy for the first time since spring break. Not a lot had changed on her end but she did notice my tan. I was more than happy to share the details of my vacation in Mexico and she was interested in all the things I did. My reminiscing about my spring break led us to get into a discussion of her favorite vacation spots growing up.

Some of her favorite vacations that she remembers were her family trips to Virginia Beach. She shared how her whole family, often including her cousins and aunts and uncles, would all pick one week out of the summer to head to the shore. I told her how that sounded like a blast, but at the same time very crowded!

Today we sat in her room, and didn’t have a lot of time, so we didn’t get into our usual scrabble game. We talked some more about her jobs that she had all her life (she only had two total) and retired about 30 years ago from her seasoned position at Dominion Resources. It was ironic that she mentioned Dominion because in business class the week before break the president of Dominion Resources came to talk to us about his company. It was neat that I knew enough about Dominion to relate to the things that she was telling me about her old job details. I always ask her advice for what I should major in and each time she tells me to be a teacher. Each time I tell her I wouldn’t really like being a teacher, but she still persists!