| | Despite my attempts to try and sleep early while at home in Irvine, it's nearly 2am and I am awake.
It's nearly 2am and I am awake, because I just spent the last hour and a half dealing with the effects of a semi-sick grandmother, who not only had some serious digestion problems tonight but also has Alzheimers and dementia. Combine the two, and you manage to get an 86-year old who has reverted to the capacities of a 6-month old, throwing up in the bathroom sink and thereby clogging the drain with a lovely combination of throw-up, mucus, and entire chunks of noodle left over from dinner. You also end up with diarrhea, filling her underwear, streaking her pants, and resting on the bathroom floor.
And just when I was done cleaning her (and the bathroom) up, she managed to come back and do the same thing all over again. Except instead of defecating on the bathroom floor this time, she managed to do it in the bathtub. In the midst of washing herself off, she ended up going again, filling the bathtub and spraying herself with brown, chunky water.
Almost 30 minutes later, she then managed to go diarrhea and throw up a third time. In her confusion, she also managed to change out of her dirty pajamas and into a nice dress suit, which she then managed to crap all over as well.
3 different times, she has gotten up and created a ridiculous mess.
3 different times, a set of pajama pants and underwear have been stained.
3 different times, I have had to bathe my grandma, disinfect the bathtub, clean the toilet, wipe the floor, and clear out the sink.
Somehow, in the midst of this, God has been speaking to me.
As I sat in the bathtub, bathing my grandma, I couldn't help think about how it's in the full exposure of one's vulnerability and helplessness that you can fully embrace both the horrors and the beauty of their humanity.
As I washed out the remnants of diarrhea from her underwear and her pajamas, I was reminded of ways we constantly deal with the consequences of the shit in each others' lives.
As I wiped down the floor and the bathtub multiple times with disinfectant, I thought about how intensely messy it is to really love somebody- in both their good and their bad.
And through it all, I was reminded of both the miracle and the horror of Incarnation, the mysteries of a God who would choose to enter into the messiness of our lives and choose to walk with us, embrace us, cleanse us, and love us anyway.
I really hope she doesn't go a 4th time tonight...
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| | Posted 6/25/2009 1:56 AM - 27 Views
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