Jason drove down here and I was so happy to see him and my grandchildren, Jade and Donovan. It's a short visit - he came to see my dad - but I don't care - I'm just thankful to see them. Jade is 3 and Donovan is 5. They are both very active and I was exhausted by the end of the day, but with a good exhaustion.
Tonight at the dinner table, my mom asked Jade for her plate so she could put more food on it and Jade looked at her with a scowl and said, "What do you say?" My mom (who was very big on manners when we were coming up) said, "Oh, right, please can I have your plate?" and she proceeded to give her the plate. I just about died laughing - she is hysterical. Now Donovan points out every blemish on your body and says, "What's that? What's that? What's that?" until he's located every blemish and mark that he can see. At the dinner table, they were a tag team asking my mom and I all kinds of questions: "Where is black Papa -- no, I mean Papa Shortz? What is this red thing on my plate? When is daddy coming back? Where are the alligators? Where is the chicken on my plate? Where are the potatoes? What is this red thing on my plate? Why do I have to eat this? Are you tired? Why is your eye like that? It went on and on and on. I tried to answer every one of their questions, but finally, I just said, "Ok, now put food in your mouth and finish your dinner." Food didn't stop the questions - they spoke through the food! I just had to laugh. I don't remember my children asking me so many questions, but I'm sure they did. I was a lot younger then and it definitely helps being young to raise kids. I can't imagine how I did it now.
After dinner, I suggested they run around the table on the porch 15 times - and they did. Donovan pooped out, but Jade kept a runnin'! Donovan followed me around asking me questions as I tried to clean up the kitchen. Jade was looking for a tissue because "my nose is leaking." Thankfully, Jason came home a short time after that, and I sighed a big sigh of relief.
We all went out on the porch and the kids swam in the pool with the light on. It's been raining so hard here, the pool is overflowing. It was fun watching them enjoy the pool, as Jas enjoyed the motorized wheelchair my parents own. We had fun tooling around the house in them, and I just couldn't get the hang of it. It's harder than it looks.
It was a nice evening after a difficult day. We went up to the hospital to see my dad about noon and he was where they x-ray and he didn't come back to his room until 3:30. The kids were going crazy, as it was way too long to wait, but we all wanted to see him. When we did see him, he didn't look good - they made him drink barium so they could do an upper GI and it took 3 hours because he couldn't get the stuff down. I don't know how they thought he would be able to, as he hasn't eaten or drank anything in almost 4 weeks. But I assume he did, because he was nauseated when he came back and wasn't in the mood to talk. He smiled and said hi to Jas and saw the kids, but he was in pretty bad shape. He just wanted to sleep. He wanted to hold my mom's hand and sleep. I have a really difficult time seeing that and not crying. That's a tender gesture my dad is not known for. But it's obvious he feels comfort holding her hand and knowing she's right there with him. They've been married 63 years the 25th of this month, and my dad finally shows her how much he loves her. And I'm thankful that he has.
No comments:
Post a Comment