Sometimes it's good to be a bother.

This afternoon, we all went over to visit my husband's aunt. We haven't seen her in a while, since before Thanksgiving, I am sad to say. We live in the same city, and used to see her on a regular basis. She is a second grandmother to my boys. However, her husband died a few years ago, very unexpectedly, and she really went into a downward spiral of depression. She got very weak and ill, and I felt like the boys were just too rowdy to be around her. Obviously, she quit getting out, so she wasn't coming to our house, and we quit going to her house, because I didn't want to bother her. I was afraid the boys would be too much for her to handle. 

She has had more bad days than good over the past couple of years. She quit eating properly, started having seizures, had problems walking and started using a cane, you name it. She began having what I think were panic attacks, and would end up in the hospital overnight, only to be sent home the next day because there was really nothing to do for her. I think she also has a problem with alcohol and, frankly, I can sort of understand. Her world was shattered by her husband's death and now all these debilitating problems, what reason was there to not self-medicate? But it certainly hasn't helped her issues.

Of late, she seems to be doing better, and today we called and asked if we could go over for a visit. Plus, we still hadn't given her our Christmas present for her, so we needed to do that. She said yes, and we had a great visit! She seemed to really love seeing the boys, and they were happy to see her, too. They were very well-behaved, and when they started to get a bit restless after 45 minutes or so, it was thankfully warm enough that they could go outside. I think it meant a lot to her to see the boys, and I think it really did her some good. I should have done it a while ago, but I plan to make it over to visit her at least once a month, hopefully every couple of weeks.

I am glad I bothered.