Jimmy Carter, 99, Is No Longer Awake Every Day, His Grandson Says

Jason Carter , the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter , told Southern Living that his grandfather is "experiencing the world as best he can" following the death of his wife, Rosalynn Carter , last November.

"After 77 years of marriage… I just think none of us really understand what it's like for him right now," Jason said. "We have to embrace that fact, that there's things about the spirit that you just can't understand."

Jimmy Carter has been in hospice care for the last 16 months. Jason said that relatives are always visiting but noted there are days when he doesn't wake up.

Jason recalled visiting him a few weeks ago and told his grandfather he doesn't know what to say when people ask how the 99-year-old former president is doing .

"I told him, I said: 'Pawpaw, you know, when people ask me how you're doing, I say, 'honestly I don't know,'" Jason recalls. "And he kind of smiled, and he said, 'I don't know, myself.'"

"It was pretty sweet," Jason said.