A sad day.

My grandparents moved into a rest home today. It happened really fast - they filled out the application while I was in Bangladesh, and less than a month later, they moved in. They've lived in Montello all their lives, and on Main Street for the past 30 years. It was hard.

My grandpa served in WWII - he was actually on Normandy beach on D-Day and helped to clean up the concentration camps at the end of the war. Because of his service, they were eligible to live in the Wisconsin Veterans Home in King. It's really beautiful - the Cadillac of rest homes. A nice big room, staffed by nurses and doctors, recreational activities, good food, and a beautiful view of two lakes. I wouldn't mind living there.

But grandpa has Alzheimers, and although grandma told him every day for a month that they were leaving, he still didn't get it. This morning, I handed him his shaving kit and grandma told him not to lose it. He said, "Am I going somewhere?"

Right before we got into the car, he started crying. He said, "I don't want to go! I want to stay here!" He rode with my dad in the truck, and dad said that he sobbed the entire way there. King is 50 minutes away.

Then there was the problem of Chips. About ten years ago, a friend of grandma's dropped off a puppy - a beagle mutt - and the dog has been grandpa's best friend for years. Chips has arthritis and he's never been trained properly. He's used to a diet of left over hamburgers and other table scraps. He's way overweight.

So we put him to sleep. Grandma made me promise not to keep him. She wanted to know that he's not suffering.

I'm sad.