Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Pulling into the gated retirement community of Sunny Meadows, I maneuver the car down the winding road toward the assisted living facility. What started out as a typical retirement community, Sunny Meadows has grown into a premiere community with multiple levels of care for its residents.

In addition to the housing development, there’s a full-service care facility and an assisted living complex that gives residents freedom, while also providing peace of mind to loved ones by having staff members check on them on a regular basis.

That’s where Grandma Ruby resides. She and Grandpa were among the first residents in the Sunny Meadows community. When Grandpa passed away, Grandma moved into one of the deluxe suites in the assisted living facility. At ninety-four, Grandma Ruby is as socially active as I am, and sharp as a tack.

Pulling into a parking space, I put the car in park. As the girls and I walk toward the entrance, I turn to them. “Grandma Ruby is going to be so excited to see you two. I think this is the first time since summer break that you’ve been able to visit with me.”

Walking into the lobby, Eve, one of the receptionist greets us. “Hi Natalie. We weren’t expecting you today.”

“Hi Eve. No, this one was a spur of the moment visit.” Gesturing toward the tin Zoey is carrying, I explain the reason for our visit. “The girls found a box of photos in the attic, and we were hoping Grandma Ruby could tell us about them.”

“Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall to hear her stories,” Eve says. “She’s the most entertaining resident we have.”

Laughing I reply, “I’m sure she is. You wouldn’t happen to know if Grandma Ruby is in her room, would you?”

“On a beautiful day like today? No, she’s in the courtyard, giving the gardener tips on how to care for the roses.” She smirks.

“Oh no, poor thing,” I say with a laugh. “Maybe there’s still time to rescue him, come on girls. See you later Eve.”

“Enjoy your visit,” she calls as we start toward the courtyard.

I can’t help but laugh as the girls and I step outside into the courtyard to find Grandma Ruby explaining that the dead blooms need to be pinched off and not cut.

“Wait here girls,” I instruct as I walk over to let Grandma know we’re here. “Grandma Ruby, are you giving this nice young man a hard time?”

Turning to see who dares to challenge her, her face lights up with a smile. “Natalie Jean, you know better than that. I’m just trying to impart some of my old lady wisdom before he kills these beautiful roses,” she teases.

The gardener laughs, “I appreciate the tips, most of the time.”

Laughing at his honesty, I turn back to Grandma Ruby, “How about we let Rick get back to work. I brought you a couple of visitors today.”

Looking around me, she smiles again, as the girl’s wave. “Well if those two aren’t the prettiest sights I’ve seen lately. You girls get over here and give me a hug,” she demands opening her arms to them. Immediately obeying, Zoey and Alana make their way over and give her a hug. “You girls get prettier every time I see you,” Grandma Ruby says as she holds one of their hand in hers.

“Thank you,” they say in unison, blushing slightly at her compliment.

Looking at each one of us, Grandma asks, “So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

Holding up one of the bags, Alana says, “We brought lunch.”

“And we were hoping you could tell us about this,” Zoey says as she holds up the old tin box that they found in the attic.

A look of nostalgia washes over Grandma Ruby’s face as she reaches out to run her hand over the top of the box. “Where did you find that?”

“It was up in the attic. Zoey and I found it when we were looking for some of Grandma’s old dress patterns,” Alana says.

“Dress patterns, huh? Well that sounds like a story I want to hear too, so how about we go up to my room, eat lunch, and swap stories?”

Smiling, the girls nod and turn toward the lobby. Threading my arm through Grandma’s I walk with her to the elevator. “I should probably warn you that, like me, they are hopeless romantics, but don’t sugar coat it for them.”

She laughs and pats my hand. “Now have you ever known me to sugar coat anything?”

“No, that’s one thing you never did, and I always appreciated your honesty.”

Reaching the lobby, we enter the elevator and ride up to the fifth floor, making a couple of stops first. Opening the door to her suite, we step inside and the girls begin unpacking lunch, setting it up on the table surrounded by four chairs.

The deluxe suite is more like a small two room apartment. The door opens into a living room dining room combination, and a small fully equipped kitchen. Down a short hallway is a full bath and a large bedroom with a walk-in closet. The walls are full of family photos and memories of Grandma and Grandpa’s travels.

Sitting down at the table, Grandma says, “Now tell me why you were looking for dress patterns.”

“I was invited to a school dance by this boy I’ve known forever!” Alana exclaims. She begins telling Grandma how she’s going to her first dance with a date and how Justin finally asked her himself yesterday during lunch. Smiling proudly at her older sister she finishes with, “Zoey is going to make my dress for me.”

“Oh, I remember going to school dances. They were so much fun.” She takes a few bites of her lunch before asking, “So this boy, does he have a name?”

“Yes, it’s Justin,” Alana says smiling, as her cheeks turn slightly pink.

“What about you Zoey? Any boys I should know about?”

Zoey smiles. “A couple, but no one special yet.”

“Smart girl,” she laughs, reaching over to pat her arm. “Play the field. You’re both young, you have plenty of time. Enjoy it while you can.”

Small talk continues as we eat lunch. Alana talking about how she was selected to perform a flute solo during the annual Christmas concert they’re preparing for.

Zoey tells Grandma of her love of fashion. Her eyes lighting up as she talks about how she enjoys sewing, and watching one of her designs come to life. Of course, this leads our discussion back to the attic. Both girls tell Grandma how they were looking for Mom’s old dress patterns for Zoey to use when she makes Alana’s dress for the dance.

“Then we found a box of old photo albums and started looking through them. They must be Grandma and Grandpa’s, because there were a lot of them when they were young and when Mom was little,” Alana explains.

“That’s how we found that box,” Zoey says. “It was in the bottom of the box with the photo albums.”

“These two almost scared us to death. Mark and I had gone out to dinner for our anniversary, when we came home we couldn’t find them anywhere. We searched the entire house hollering for them the whole time. Finally, when we got upstairs and Mark called out for them, they answered from the attic. I recognized you in the pictures, but there were some people I didn’t know, and we were curious,” I admit. “Would you mind telling us about them?”

A wistful smile appears on Grandma Ruby’s face, “I’d love to,” she says. “Let’s finish our lunch and get this cleaned up, then we’ll get comfortable and I’ll tell you all about it.”