Memories

This past Monday was a decent visit with my dad. He was in a deep sleep in an easy chair when we first arrived, and since a worker there told me he had just fallen asleep, I didn't wake him right away. My daughter found a box of craft materials to play with, and I read a magazine. After awhile, maybe about twenty or thirty minutes, I finally woke him, which was--for the first time ever--very difficult to do. This time I wheeled him out of the Alzheimer's unit altogether and out the main front entrance. It's mainly just a parking lot with a sidewalk, but it's a change of scenery for my dad, and he can see more of the sky and wide open spaces from there.

Before it was time to say our goodbyes and leave, I spoke with a worker and asked some questions about my dad and found out that he was now sleeping though the night, which was such a relief to hear, and an answer to prayer.

At home a couple of days later, I decided to have a snack that I had not had in quite some time, which was canned fish steaks in mustard sauce, spread on crackers, and it brought back memories of good times with my dad (I have no idea if they are actually sardines or not, the can just says, "Fish steaks".) He was the one who introduced me to those fish steaks back when I was a kid and I wound up liking them, so he and I would eat them as a snack together quite often. Somehow, though, they didn't taste quite as good without my dad there to eat them with me.

Then I was reminded of the time he took me on a trip with him and we stopped at a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop where they made the doughnuts fresh for customers all day long. We sat in the car in the parking lot and ate some together. I remember how good they were and how much I appreciated my dad making sure he stopped at that very store (he traveled a lot so he knew where all the "good" places were). ;-) That must be why I like Krispy Kreme doughnuts so much to this day.

When I think of my dad and the condition he is in now, sitting in a wheelchair, so frail and weak and pale, it helps to conjure up those good memories, and to cherish them.