Contentment

On Sunday, Mademoiselle and I visited Mrs. K. my old (85 years, to be precise) widoweed neighbour in Wieselburg, Lower Austria. She used to live in a flat on the same floor as me (and in fact was born in that same building) and several years ago, she rang my doorbell asking if she could entrust me with her keys and ask me to water her plants/empty the post box during the summer months when she is at her house in Wieselburg. I agreed, but for a long time politely refused all invitations to visit her there, knowing that she had a large family and many visitors anyway and and wanting to devote my time to my own elderly relatives instead. What with the latter sadly being radically diminished now and her living there permanently I changed my mind. 

Last summer, she called me to tell me she was not returning to Vienna and had in fact become an invalid. I could not believe it as she had always been in great form, entertaining visitors, going to the theatre regularly and enjoying baking as much as I did. She got on well with the students next door and woud often leave a cake in a bag on their door handle. Some of them even called her "Oma". Well, what happened was that she fell and broke her spine which already was brittle from osteoporosis. As an operation would have been much to risky, the family council decided she would stay in her summer house and get a live-in carer. "Luck" had it that an old couple who lived in the same street had just passed away and their nice Slovak carer, who wanted to stay in Wieselburg anyway, was looking for a new person to look after. 

You might think that she would be bitter and bemoan her fate, but far from it. Despite the fact that her fingers are partly numb and she needs help with cutting her food, washing herself and other tasks, she can type on a keyboard and likes to send text messages. On rainy days she writes her memoirs on an old laptop her grandchildren gave her and enjoying her garden and visits by friends and family. Thanks to physiotherapy and aids like putty she kneads she can write in block capitals again and has regained use of her hands somewhat. 

She seized the opportunity that she'd have a car at her disposal when I visited and had already made up a programme for our day there, consisting of a visit to a "Mostheuriger", a visit to Plankenstein castle and a "solstice circle". On the picture above you can see her sitting on a bench outside the church right opposite the castle. She really reminded me of my late grandmother, who also loved being taken on excursions and was more than happy to wait in a café or a bench while "the young ones" went to explore the shops or sights. Just like my granny she also keeps saying that she is happy to have done and seen so much when she was young and so has a rich trove of happy memories to feed on.

People like this really are role models and make me feel guilty for complaining about things that are so insignificant in comparison to physical impediments and the fact that you know your days are definitely numbered now.