Fleeting blessing

We went to the hospital the second day we were in Detroit. We were going to go the first day, but my grandmother was so out of it that my grandpa told us not to bother.

At this point, Zeke had pretty much solidified his lock for Baby of the Year. He had been absolutely amazing in the face of long plane rides, shleps back and forth to this relative and that relative, people getting in his face constantly. I had been apprehensive about traveling with him, not because I thought he would be difficult, but just because it was a long way and a long time stuck in a confined space with unfamiliar noises and people, and I wasn't sure how he would react to it. It turns out my fears were unfounded, because he was unbelievable. He played in my lap, he charmed the pants off of everyone around us, he slept, he ate, and he didn't cry once. Seriously, not once.

I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But it didn't drop at the hospital.

My grandmother looked terrible. According to my grandfather, she had been awake but not really alert. She was lying on her side in her hospital bed with oxygen tubes flowing into her nose, and she was just staring into space, breathing raggedly because of all the congestion in her chest. She wasn't saying much, just drifting in and out of sleep.

When I walked in with Zeke, her entire demeanor changed. Her eyes opened wider and she smiled at him and recognized both of us right away.

"Hi, Grandma," I said. "It's good to see you. This is Zeke, your great-grandson. Isn't he beautiful?"

"Hi, sweetheart. He's adorable."

She put her hand up on the railing of her bed, right next to the chair I was sitting in with Zeke in my lap. When he saw her hand, he raised himself up and put both hands on the railing, one of them patting her hand. He looked at her and gave her his best smile with dimple fully engaged. She smiled back at him.

"Hello!" she said.

"Ba ba ba," he replied.

And we sat like that for about 10 minutes. I held my grandmother's hand and stroked her forehead and smiled at her, and Zeke patted both of our hands and smiled at her and chattered, and she smiled back at both of us. Of course, I was crying, but I was trying to keep it together and keep smiling.

Then we had to leave, because Zeke wasn't even supposed to be up on the floor she was on. But it was gratifying to know that she saw us when she was lucid and that it brought her a little bit of happiness. I didn't get to see her again because our flight left so early the next morning that we pretty much had to go to the airport straight from the hotel. But still, I was glad I made the trip to Michigan.

The next day, my mom talked to my grandpa to check on my grandmother's progress.

She had no recollection of seeing us.