Friday, December 31, 2010
My parents and I came back today so they could say goodbye before leaving for Michigan Saturday morning. We started at Ray McDade’s room, even though every other time we’d tried that tactic, he was out.
Today was our lucky day. Doubly lucky.
Ray was home, and Bill Crowell was visiting him. We all were kind of surprised for a minute there.
Ray stood from his wheelchair to hug my mom, and when she leaned in, he tipped backwards and we almost lost them both.
I was mentally counting backwards from 10 to see how long it’d take Bill to broach The Subject with my dad. Not long.
“I was kind of hoping to ask for your daughter’s hand,” he told my dad.
My dad paused for just a second.
“How much money do you have?” he asked Bill.
Bill was surprised for another minute there, but when everyone else laughed, he did, too.
We chatted for a while, then found Mike in the hallway by Activities. He took us down to see his favorite Christmas tree, and on the way David Fox called me over.
He took my hand and said, in his sweetly loud David voice, “This is going to be your year, young lady.”
I told him I hoped so.
“Whadya mean, you hope so?” David said. “I’m telling you that’s how it’s going to be, and that’s how it’s going to be!”
Silly me. Thank you, David. I am ready for my year.
We gushed over the tree, then went back to Mike’s room. He was very happy to have us—and happy to have new Christmas slippers from my parents—but mad about most everything else.
He’d developed pneumonia again, and he didn’t like the diagnosis or the treatment. He’d finally received the mangled envelope of the Christmas card I’d sent weeks ago, but the card itself was missing. And he wants his suit cleaned, pronto, so it’s ready for the Valentines dinner.
He also wasn’t happy my parents were leaving. He escorted us to the door, but didn’t want to go out in the cold.
“Damn, I’m going to miss you,” he said, hugging them and shaking their hands.
I hugged him, too. “Sorry to say, you’re going to have to see me pretty soon,” I told him.
That got a little smile.
My parents and I came back today so they could say goodbye before leaving for Michigan Saturday morning. We started at Ray McDade’s room, even though every other time we’d tried that tactic, he was out.
Today was our lucky day. Doubly lucky.
Ray was home, and Bill Crowell was visiting him. We all were kind of surprised for a minute there.
Ray stood from his wheelchair to hug my mom, and when she leaned in, he tipped backwards and we almost lost them both.
I was mentally counting backwards from 10 to see how long it’d take Bill to broach The Subject with my dad. Not long.
“I was kind of hoping to ask for your daughter’s hand,” he told my dad.
My dad paused for just a second.
“How much money do you have?” he asked Bill.
Bill was surprised for another minute there, but when everyone else laughed, he did, too.
We chatted for a while, then found Mike in the hallway by Activities. He took us down to see his favorite Christmas tree, and on the way David Fox called me over.
He took my hand and said, in his sweetly loud David voice, “This is going to be your year, young lady.”
I told him I hoped so.
“Whadya mean, you hope so?” David said. “I’m telling you that’s how it’s going to be, and that’s how it’s going to be!”
Silly me. Thank you, David. I am ready for my year.
We gushed over the tree, then went back to Mike’s room. He was very happy to have us—and happy to have new Christmas slippers from my parents—but mad about most everything else.
He’d developed pneumonia again, and he didn’t like the diagnosis or the treatment. He’d finally received the mangled envelope of the Christmas card I’d sent weeks ago, but the card itself was missing. And he wants his suit cleaned, pronto, so it’s ready for the Valentines dinner.
He also wasn’t happy my parents were leaving. He escorted us to the door, but didn’t want to go out in the cold.
“Damn, I’m going to miss you,” he said, hugging them and shaking their hands.
I hugged him, too. “Sorry to say, you’re going to have to see me pretty soon,” I told him.
That got a little smile.