The DN

1  Just flew in from Dad's and boy...

2  Did I enjoy myself.

3   Anybody lookin'?
 
4   I had crazy stuff happening, not the least of which was the Giants' games. I loved being at Dad's.

5   Argh. No, that wasn't me trying to be ironic. That was me dealing with cursor popping and odd things going on in my laptop.

6   Getting pop-ups.

7   And puter haunts. I'll need to talk about that later. I'm bothering you only because I can. 

8   I did enjoy myself. We sat and bit our nails for eighteen innings on Saturday night before Dad got tired and went to bed

9   He conked out immediately. Within minutes Belt smashed that epic home run. 

10  Normally I would never awaken Dad once he would get to sleep, but I went into his room and woke him anyway. This, after all, was BIG. 

11  "Dad?"

12   "Urgh?"

13    "I DIDN'T MEAN TO WAKE YOU BUT BELT JUST HIT A HOME RUN INTO THE STRATOSPHERE!!! GIANTS TWO, NATIONALS ONE, TOP EIGHTEEN!!!"

14    "I can't hear you."

15    "GIANTS WON THAT GAME!!!"

16    "I can't hear you."

17    "THE GIANTS WON THAT GAME!!! I HAD TO LET YOU KNOW!!! G'NIGHT!!!"

18    "Good night."

19    "YEAH!!!"

20   "I can't hear you."

21    

22   Pretty fun.

23   To say it was all other-worldly would be an understatement. Just spending the night in someone else's place is ALWAYS other-worldly. Throw an eighteen-inning playoff victory into the mix and you are beyond Mars.

24  Dad has recently fallen and cracked a rib AND a couple of toes. We need to be there 24/7 lately. After the game I watched all the hooplah and then went to sleep in the room right across from Dad's. If he gets up, I'll know.

25   The house of my teen years no longer has things that go bump in the night. If a mouse moves two steps it creaks and cracks. Floorboards move up and down like foot pedals, and most of the doors need WD90. 

26  

27   The bottom line is that I knew I wasn't going to sleep too well, despite the joy of victory. Every little noise could have been him trying to get up. I would drift a bit, hear a creak or a cracks and open my eyes. 

28   Eventually my body gave up and I drifted off. 

29   I dreamed I was lying in the bed across from Dad's room...

30  And...<snooooooooze...>

31  Pure exhaustion. 

32  Somewhere around 4:45 a.m. I heard a thump. It startled me and I shot up, looked over, and Dad was not only awake, but he was fully dressed and ready for church. 

33   That was an exaggeration. But he had gotten up right under my watch and got into all his clothes, sweater included, and was ready to start the day. 

34   I jumped up. "Dad? You okay?"

35   "Huh? Oh, yeah."

36    "Why are you up and fully dressed? You usually don't get up for at least another hour?"

37   "I can't hear you." 

38   For the record he does have hearing aids; he just hates putting them in. Our awesome care person Deni always tells him he either needs smaller hearing aids or bigger ears. His reply: "I can't hear you." He's always polite when he says it, but he says it a lot. 

39  "Why don't you go back to sleep for around an hour?" He heard that. 

40  "You want me to go back to sleep when I'm already dressed?"

41  <thought cloud> "Well YEAH because when you are up, I have to be up and I'm already exhausted."

42  <vocal answer> "Nah, it's all right. Let's get you into your chair." 

43   <He sits on side of bed exhausted from being up too early.> "I gotta rest."

44   I figured I was up for the day AND that I would have to stay until at least 6 p.m. and THEN drive home, which is about an hour away. I jumped up, scrubbed, got into fresh clothes, and swiftly helped him out to the other room. 

45  "Buddy, do me a favor and go out in the driveway and get me the paper."

46

47   "You woke up early. The paper won't be here for another couple hours."

48   "I can't hear you."

49   You get the drift. Fortunately Deni eventually showed up, more to scold him for being sneaky than anything else. She was awesome, sort of like a cross between Gidget and Annie Oakley. She yelled at him for getting up so early. She was absolutely hilarious, and kept him entertained until it was almost his normal time for breakfast. Amazing. 

50  We're rookies compared to her. Eventually she departed, always good spirited, and the day turned normal. 

51   Later Helene wanted to get on her horse, so at around nine I asked Dad if he'd like to go to the cemetery. He suddenly felt like a broken-field runner, hopping right up and getting himself prettied up to go see Mom. 

52  We said "Good-bye" to Helene and we departed for the lovely hills of Colma. 

53   The day was gorgeous. We stopped for some beautiful mini-carnations, and drove up to the cemetery. Dad got out, almost put the tennis ball of his walker into some guy's grave, and made it up the small hillock overlooking the Bay Area. I was getting the flowers when I heard him say, "Okay, let's go." And he started down the hill on his own. 

54  "Hold...hold on! I haven't put the flowers out yet!"

55   "I can't hear you." 

56

57   I wound up running over, placing the flowers on the grave, and grabbing Dad's walker. I still had a bunch of flowers, but needed to get him back into the car. 

58   I got him in and almost threw the flowers into the garbage when I thought, "Why not put some on some of the other people's graves?" I KNEW Mom would approve. 

59   "I gave some of the extra flowers to some of these other folks, " I said. He heard that.

60   "You know what your mother'd say, 'Why are you giving flowers to all these strangers?'"

61   I laughed. I didn't think so, but it made me laugh. 

62   Afterwards I asked if he wouldn't mind going to the store. He always wants to go to the store for ice cream, so he said, "Yeah." We took a nice ride to Burlingame, drove around and enjoyed the sun. We talked about the mischief I used to get into when I was a kid, ringing doorbells and running, and generally being a goof. 

63   "You think you invented that?" He asked. "We used to put dog shit into a paper bag, ring the bell and then start the bag on fire. When the guy would answer the door, we'd watch him stomp out the flames."

64   The day continued to rock, and I knew I had to share as much as I could. Hope you got a chuckle.

65   For now, I gottago. 

66   That's it.

67   See you again.

68   Peace.

~H~