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Sunday, May 24, 2009

There's a new guy in town.......

and his name is Frank.

Yesterday, I spied on my father. I watched him eat lunch with the two gentleman who were seated at his table. I watched him play bingo with a grey haired woman and a fellow in a wheel chair. Later on, I looked on as he sat amongst his peers and watched TV. No one was talking to him and he wasn't talking to anyone. Doesn't everyone want to talk to my father? He has so much to say! Doesn't he?

It took everything I had not to run in and tell everyone in the room that this guy they were sitting with is the sweetest, the most funny, interesting, witty guy on the planet! He could recite the mass in Latin, he once had an ugly bulldog named Handsome and he was voted Fashion Plate of his high school graduating class. I wanted to tell them that they were sitting in the presence of greatness and adorableness and kindness. I wanted them to know how he lost his teeth in a fight at Forbes Field when he was 16 and how he married his high school sweetheart only to bury her one year later and that his favorite historical figure was Harry Truman. And, I wanted to tell them about how he met my mother and about his Studebaker and about our vacations in Conneaut Lake and how he made sure we always had toilet paper in my that big house we lived in at college. I wanted to let them know that he has three daughters who absolutely adore him, six grandchildren who think he is the neatest guy ever and 10 step children who don't hate him. I wanted to make them look at his rosey cheeks and his blue eyes and just try to resist his charm.

Just give them time.....my father will win them over. He doesn't need me. He's done fine all these years without an image consultant.

My fingers are crossed, I'm going to do an extra novena and maybe I'll just slip them all a $20 today....


5 comments:

Jody V said...

It will all work out Judi. Remember Toni's first day of Kindergarden?? It's kind of the same situation. Make friends quickly with one of the Nurses or Nurses Aids and you can get updates and they'll make sure he mingles. I say this from experience My Dear.

Best of luck...
Jody

Debbie said...

Oh Judy, I truly feel for you, Neice & Cathy. I've walked in those shoes you're walking in right now. It's not easy. I agree with Jody, get to know the nurses, it has really paid off in my Mom's nursing home. We can only pray that our children don't have to face these same decisions in years to come. Thinking of you old friend.
Love,
Debbie

Kathy said...

So well put Judi. I felt the same way when my Mom went into the nursing home. Then slowly when I went to visit she would be sitting with her new friends and they would be laughing and reminiscing and it made me feel like I had done the right thing. It will work out, just wait and see. Bless you Judi.

Shaggs said...

Judi that was just beautiful! Even if all the strangers in his new home dont know, I do now and I truly appreciate and enjoyed his and your stories. I remember wanting to tell all the nurses and doctors and anyone who would listen that my grandmother wasnt just another old lady who'd lived a good life and it was "just her time". That not that long ago she was a remarkable grandmother and great grandmother involved in all our lives, whizzing around in her little car and leaving all the other grandmothers and mothers for dead. She wasnt always a white haired ghost just waiting around to be taken. Thank you for sharing the wonderful stories of your father they bring back such wonderful stories of my own.

Eileen, Founder, Organizer, Mayor and Chief Cook And Bottle Washer of the Anger Management Girls. said...

I'm sure after he's there a few days he'll run into a few old "Cenral Guys". Believe me, they are everywhere!!!!!

I've been going to Conneaut Lake since I've been born. In fact my father moved full time up to our cottage.
Were did you stay? Our place in on Midway.
The kids are still there. I went up for a few days and came home Sunday.