The Day of the Legendary Lincoln Memorial Slide
My mom, grandma, and I planned a summer road trip. We would visit two MLB stadiums on my bucket list and take my grandma to new casinos. We mapped out every stop with excitement. First, we would spend a night in DC. Then we would head to Philadelphia for an afternoon Phillies game and a stay at the casino. After that, we planned to drive to Connecticut to visit two of the largest casinos in the country. Finally, we would end the trip in Boston to see my law school friends at Fenway Park.
Twelve hours into the trip, everything changed. My then 88‑year‑old grandma earned herself a ten‑day stay at George Washington University Hospital. How? With her legendary slide down the Lincoln Memorial, of course! That is not a typo. As my grandma would say, “Oh Edna, ya big dummy!” It fit the moment perfectly.
Two hours before her unexpected stunt, we checked into our hotel and learned something shocking. My grandma had never visited DC before. She had never seen the monuments. We solved that quickly. We grabbed an Uber and headed straight to the Lincoln Memorial.
The elevators were out of order, so we took the stairs. As we climbed, a group of teenage boys slid down the marble railing like it was a theme park ride. I joked with my grandma and asked if she planned to try it later. She smirked and said, “I might.”
She had removed her nylon coat because of the heat and tied it around her waist. That detail would soon matter. After we admired the Memorial, we headed back down. The boys were still sliding. My grandma wanted her turn and insisted I go to the bottom to record the moment.
I hit record. The video lasted ten seconds. The chaos lasted four. None of us realized that the nylon jacket would turn her into a human rocket. Before my mom yelled “catch her,” I already knew she would not stop at the end of the rail. I was crouched with my phone and flung out an arm, but I was too late. A man helped her stand, and we realized something was wrong.
An ambulance arrived on the south lawn of the Lincoln Memorial. Within hours, doctors confirmed she had broken her hip. Doctors told us she would need two weeks of acute physical therapy after surgery. They had never met a woman who could out‑stubborn gravity. She was also determined to get home to Ohio to be surrounded by her sisters, kids and even the casino. Yes, a casino. Grandma isn’t one to sit around and look at four walls all day. She’s never met a stranger and she had many friends to get back to socializing with at the casino.
After ten days in the hospital and five in physical therapy, she walked out with a walker and a mission. She made it back to Ohio and returned to the casino a few days later.
This story is epic, but it is not the reason I’m writing about it. Her mindset during that time stayed with me. If she was scared shitless, she never led on. My grandma never cried, got angry or complained. She stayed calm, funny, and focused. Any emotion would have been understandable, but she chose humor and grit.
I remember thinking that if I ever faced something similar, I hoped I could show half her composure. Four hundred forty‑nine days later, I received my MS diagnosis. After hearing I did not need surgery, my mind went straight to my grandma. I remembered her strength and her humor. I knew my mindset would shape the next minutes, days, weeks, months, and years.
Thank you to my legendary grandma. She taught me how to face the hard things with courage, humor, and a little chaos.
Watch the 10 second video here: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CVX2PGEqo/
My MS Journey Series
- Homepage: My MS Journey
- Post #2: Choosing MS Treatment with Humor and Panic
- Post #3: How My MS Symptoms Finally Forced Me to Listen
- Post #4: Why I Joined My First MS Research Study
- Post #5: Why I Spoke Up About NIH Funding
- Post #6: Feeling Like an Inflatable Tube Man at the Grocery Store
- Post #7: My First MRI Update Since Diagnosis: A Surprising Step Forward
- Post #8: Beat Autoimmune: The Six Lifestyle Keys That Changed My MS Journey
- Post #9: My First Ocrevus Infusion and the Three-Year Price Roller Coaster
- Post #10: Sixth Ocrevus Infusion, New Routines, and an Unexpected Family Emergency
- Post #11: The Mono Chapter I Never Expected to Matter
- Post #12: Mean Baby by Selma Blair
- Post #13: The Night I Went Searching for Answers at an MS Patient Event
- Post #14: Discovering the MeSsy Podcast and the Stories That Shape Us
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