Dad Laughs and Smiles

Visions of the mountains in Autumn color on 81 North, a visit to the Severn River, and views of blue sky and birds were thwarted by heavy rain this weekend. Our seven-hour drive to Maryland took nine hours on Friday but we didn't complain. We left Charlotte early Friday morning in heavy rain and it continued through Saturday morning in Maryland. Several inches soaked the region and that's a blessing, as the foliage is shiny and clean and has raised up to blue sky.

I tried.

Dad was sleeping in his bed on Friday and the sight of us standing before him made his eyes twinkle. He knew who stood before him but names come slowly… Earlier in the week, his younger sisters brought him rich chocolates wrapped in foil and other sweets for his 82nd birthday. I don’t know how he managed to consume the entire gift but by the time my brother and his family arrived, Dad was violently sick from overindulging. I opted to send balloons – a more reasonable gift for a man who doesn’t care about or understand moderation. Before we left him on Friday, I asked him if he needed or wanted anything since I would be back on Saturday.

“How about bringing me some chocolates?”

Yeah, right, Dad. I brought him a Hershey bar and offered him only one bite.

There was a bittersweet moment on our leaving a little while later. Dad told Michael how proud he was of him and on our way out of his room, he said to us in his weakened voice, “I love you…I love you…I love you…” I held back tears on the way to the car.

Saturday was a good day. We arrived to find him with others congregated in the hallway near the nurses' station, but he wasn’t socializing as he normally would. Instead, his chin was slumped on his chest - snoring. We wheeled him all around the facility and found a nice spot to sit and talk for a long time. I helped him with his lunch, making him wait for the vanilla ice cream cup until he finished the chicken. It's not easy finding subjects to engage him in conversation but it went quite well. I loved hearing his belly laugh.

When I think there is little left of him, he proves me wrong. Throughout his entire life, there is a question we could always count on him asking. Always interested in the cost of things, he’d inquire, “What did you give for that?”

He was admiring my camera and commented, “That’s a fancy camera you have there. What did you give for that?”

Michael and I exchanged glances and howled. Dad is Dad, no doubt.

My plans to show him photos went awry when my photo printer refused to cooperate. He enjoyed the photos stored on my camera so I am going to work on a photo album for him as a Christmas gift. Large photos with large captions. He’ll love it as much as I will enjoy creating it!

We were busy on Saturday visiting my brother and his family, Mom’s grave, and spending time with our dear friends in Severna Park who opened their house to us for the weekend. We had a great time with them including a terrific dinner in downtown Baltimore at a restaurant in Canton called Mama’s on the Half Shell for a Maryland seafood fix. Later we went to a wild Halloween party which contributed to an ugly early morning wake-up call for our trip home on Sunday morning.

Our friends are building a magnificent new house on the Magothy River. I can only dream

of a view like this.

They have a beautiful yard in their current home but birds don’t visit. If I offered them a feeder, they would probably refuse. Without birds, I focused on floating leaves after the rains.

Oops. Michael met a Maryland Trooper on the way home. Now we are even. I met one in Virginia a year ago. Troopers love out-of-state drivers.

Homecoming is sweet. Their feeders needed filling

and they waited for me.

I sorted laundry into two piles and found Chloe in the dining room with a pair of my panties dangling from her mouth. She was delighted with her prize.

A tug of war began.

Bella won the war but quickly surrendered to the chief. I do not tolerate broken elastic on brand new panties.