My sister had a great visit with Dad. Sounds like Dad is becoming a comedian with some of the witty remarks he has been making...
When she arrived, Dad was in the Rec room watching TV with several of the other residents. My sister asked Dad if he wanted to watch the rest of the movie or go into the patio. Enthusiastically, he chose the patio. As she pushed him in his wheel chair toward the patio, Dad broke out in song. One of the aids nodded and told her Dad had been singing earlier.
When they got settled outside, she brought out the sourdough chicken club sandwich, churros and a big cup of ice water. Dad told her "she answered his prayers". He savored every bite and then kept reaching in the empty bag, looking for more churros. Luckily, she had some almonds in her purse and gave those to Dad.
She called me so I could talk with Dad. His voice sounded low and dull when he first said hello to me, so I greeted him with a loud, cheerful, " Hi Dad, how are you?" His voice immediately changed, sounding up, strong and positive. We chatted, and he seemed so normal...
Dad surprised me by asking if I remembered the day he was asleep, awoke, and saw all of us in his room? (That is when he went to the first nursing home in June. The hospital had tried to transfer him, in the middle of the night, after our specific instructions that we needed to be with him. Dad freaked out, went into combat mode, and they had to sedate him with Halidol. He was in a "Rip Van Winkle sleep", as my youngest brother called it, for 48 hours.) I was BLOWN AWAY he remembered that!
Dad said something about a nut, and I could hear my sister laughing...soon she came on the line and told me Dad was narrating the process of eating an almond, giving a play by play from the bag to his mouth...so we both were cracking up. She told me she wanted to try and reach our brother in Ohio, so Dad could talk to him. My husband and I were leaving to have dinner with friends anyway, so I said my good-byes.
My sister took a picture of Dad when he was talking to his son in Ohio. After their conversation, she showed him the picture of himself. Dad told her, "Well, you can tell by the shape of my head, it's football season!" That one really busted up my sister and gave her a good laugh.
They enjoyed the blue sky together and Dad pointed out some brown palm frawns that needed to be trimmed. He told her he dreamt of people jumping over fire pits at the beach. Dad wanted to paint the black he had been seeing all white. He repeated what he told our brother, on his last visit, how he dreams of going to church to see his friends... And, he wants to be with the family at Thanksgiving.
Dad told my sister he would be 90 on his birthday next month. She reminded him, he would be 89..and Dad quipped, "That's close enough"...
Both my sister and I think its a good idea to take Dad to church the Sunday after his 89th birthday in November. We also think we should bring Dad to my brother's for Thanksgiving. Even if it is for a little while. We don't know, this could be our last one with Dad...
We always have Thanksgiving at our second to the oldest brother's house. My daughter called to suggest we get Little Papa his very own apple pie. It would be wonderful to have him say the blessing....even if he sang it and it made no sense...
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