Hospice Here I Come

I am not sure how these things happen to me - and it's not that I mind, I don't mind helping at all - it's just that these are not things I would have chosen as talents of mine aaaand then I get asked for a favor and find myself in the middle of something I just had not expected.
Tarzan's grandfather has been in the hospital and then at home recuperating. The man is ninety-two, his wife died last year and we didn't really expect a lot of recuperating to be going on, but his children - of which Tarzan's mother is one - just wanted him to be happy and comfortable at home. They arranged for at-home nursing and a caregiver in the afternoons and things went fairly well for the first week. Then issues of a variety I was not privileged to to know arose and the afternoon help was unable to continue.
I got a call last week, right around the time the phone and the Internet pooped out, to see if I was available to sit with him in the afternoons for a few days this week. As I had nothing else to do during the day - Internet off-line, remember - I said sure. How hard could it be? The man was bed-ridden the last time I saw him and none too lucid, so I figured I'd bring a book, hang out, pass a few sips of water across when necessary and then go home.
Ha.
Ha ha.
Ha ha ha.
This grandfather is freakin' resilient let me tell you. I went down there last Friday and he was up and walking around, flirting with the nurses. This week he's been able to have food that's not liquid and that seems to have perked him up even more - should have heard the exclamations about the Cream Of Wheat for breakfast! But he's stronger, ordering people around and making jokes; he taught me a joke in German to share with Tarzan. It makes me happy for him and for his kids, and happy I could in some way help with the process.
I have seen certain parts that I could have gone my whole life without seeing - a certain sense of detachment is quite necessary - but it's a small price to pay considering the benefits...don't you think?

This is me, all set for a career in nursing.