growing old

i am lucky enough to have three out of my four grandparents still. today i went to visit my granny (dad's mum) who has been taken into a nursing home for a week whilst grandpa recovers from a cataract operation. she is beginning to become disorientated, and it is so heart-breaking to see her decline from a strong, fiesty woman (i am nothing like her!) to someone so dependent on others. the nursing home was one of those typical places - soul-less and full of lonely elderly people who don't talk to anyone all day. how very depressing.