Oops .. it's been awhile ....

It's been a little while, so lots to catch up on.  Me and mom have been so busy working, Drew's at school, and dads been at home or at the Party Store checkin out his latest lottery tickets or scratching instant tickets in the parking lot lol.  I know he does that because the floor of his truck has so many shavings you could literally use a small shovel to get them out!  All the boys at the Party Store love him and they write the days on his tickets so he knows when to bring them back to be checked.  "You're not rippin me off now are ya?"  Dad always asks.  They just laugh, and though I'm not cynical, I hope they wouldn't take advantage of him.  Overall I think they are very sweet people.  Those people, that Party Store, and the lottery tickets they print out are what he gets out of the house for.  That's his daily "errand."

Dad still drives, but not that far.  I think inside he knows he might get confused about where he's going and it makes him nervous.  I was thinking back today about when I was growing up and he would leave for work at 7am with my brothers and not return until dinner.  He knew his way around everywhere, near, far.  We drove to Florida every year with the Santeius ... he drove most of the way.  Now of course the length his truck travels might not ever be over 10 miles a day.  But he gets out, he still has some independence.  God help us when that goes!

Things have been fairly quiet; we took dad to the VA yesterday to get his yearly physical.  His numbers have drastically improved, said the doctor.  Now if you asked me what numbers I could tell you every one.  That's what we do lately, mom and I.  We know units, we know ounces, milligrams, milliliters, we know BP numbers, blood sugar numbers,  Creatine, A1C numbers, kidney function levels,  good, bad, indifferent.  We know it all.  And we can laugh because now dad knows that sneaking that regular pop just isn't worth it.  Mom and I hover over the glucose meter in anticipation for the 3 seconds it takes to give the reading.  If that number is over 120, God bless his soul, he's getting yelled at!

Today Drew wanted to wear her blue shirt that says "I Love My Papa" on it.  "He (papa) will be so happy I have this on."  I usually let her dress herself in the morning; sometimes she looks like a tiny hobo but today she was adamant about wearing that shirt.

I know that Drew picked our family for a reason.  I know one of her "jobs" here is to be the light of her papa's life in this hard time.  I know he hasn't even remotely liked the aging process.  He wants to be young again, riding horses, building pools, and traveling with mom.  I know some days are harder than others but I also know he's thankful to have such an amazing family.  And I know he's thankful for Drew.  I am thankful for Drew for my dad.  Does that make sense?  She keeps him on his toes, he teaches her things, she teaches him things.  They have both taught me so much.  They have their own little language.  I love capturing it.  I feel like through the hundreds of pictures I've taken of them together, he will somehow always be with her.

Troy called today from Texas.  Dad loves to hear from his boys.  He hears enough from his girls lol.  I saw his eyes light up when he asked about Troy's work.  He was very lucid during that conversation.  At the end he told him "I love you" which he never does.  I guess aging is a funny thing.  My grandma (whose the same age as dad) always says you look back at everything and ponder ... what if .... how in the ... why ... etc.  So I'm sure there's a lot of that going on right now.  We're all here for you pops.  Ponder away.