Collected Item: “My Grandmother and I’s Final Touch”
Give your story a title.
My Grandmother and I’s Final Touch
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
Personal Memory
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
About a week before my grandmother passed, I went down to visit her for the day and help my grandfather with work around the house. When I arrived at their house, my aunt handed me a pair of nail clippers and asked if I could cut my grandmother’s nails for her. I kneeled at her bedside and began my work. I do not recall how it smelled in my grandmother’s room, as I was wearing my mask the entire time. I imagine it smelled like a hospital room though. I felt the cold metal of the nail clippers and the soft skin from my grandma’s hand, as the hum of her ventilator filled the room. I could hear her voice as well, she was hallucinating due to cerebral hypoxia, whispering to me about the train tracks in her closet. In those moments I could taste nothing but my own saliva.
She died several days later on April 21, 2020, with my aunt, uncle, and grandfather in her company. I harbor great hatred for this virus, as it limited my time with my dying grandmother, and I harbor great disgust for everyone around me who refuses to take it seriously. You, however, don’t need to know about this. History does not care, it just happens.
She died several days later on April 21, 2020, with my aunt, uncle, and grandfather in her company. I harbor great hatred for this virus, as it limited my time with my dying grandmother, and I harbor great disgust for everyone around me who refuses to take it seriously. You, however, don’t need to know about this. History does not care, it just happens.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
pandemic
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Natalie Herberger
Give this story a date.
2020-04-15