Margaret

Went to see my other grandmother earlier this evening and she was in pretty good spirits. However, we arrived in the middle of a documentary about Bing Crosby's Christmas specials, so she mostly ignored us, occasionally clapping her hands whenever a little kid sang on the television and occasionally telling us exactly what was happening on the TV.

We spent most of our time instead talking to her roommate Margaret. Margaret is a really delightful woman. Somehow or other, the world just never ceases to delight her. The moment you walk in to the room, she has to tell you that you're absolutely goregous and then she'll find something about your outfit - your purse or your shoes, your coat or something you've got in your hair - and she'll chuckle and exclaim that it is absolutely wonderful.

She's got kind of a raspy whisper of a voice, like she's constantly lost it, and whenever she finds something that she thinks is particularly adorable, her face gets paralyzed in a sort of caricatured joy, while a bit of a raspy gasp escapes her. Then when she's finished with that, she'll tell you that something's just adorable or wonderful or something.

Then she'll tell you all about how her son brought her newest grandchild in to see her just the other day and it was the most adorable little child you've ever seen. She was only this big, she'll say with her hands out and then she'll show you pictures. Then she'll tell you about how she has such wonderful grandchildren, and then about how we're all sooo good to my grandmother and how lovely the flowers are that we brought in. She'll say that her husband was a great man when he was alive, and that Grandad must have been because Grandma thinks the world of him.

Then, because she's starting to lose her short-term memory, she will find something about your outfit - your purse or your shoes, your coat or something you've got in your hair - and she'll chuckle and exclaim that it is absolutely wonderful. She'll repeat practically everything she's already said to you a couple more times during the conversation.

My grandmother, when she's not absorbed by the television, is much the same way. I think the two are well matched. They both have such short short-term memories that they can keep each other amused for hours with the same stories repeated over and over.