Went to see Dad this morning; he was visibly tired and his ordeal has taken a toll just since Tuesday morning...he did not appear to realize who I was until several minutes into the visit; he was very respectful to Char and told her it was "nice to see you again"....when I told him that it was Ricky standing behind me, he looked at him, extended his hand and said, "very nice to meet you young man!"
Ricky and his grandfather haven't seen each other in nearly 10 years, that was at our wedding; even then, I don't suspect there was much conversation between the two of them...a lot of things happened during those years when Ricky was young....he took the death of my mom, his Nana, extremely hard...and, in what seemed to be like an immediate reaction, grandpa remarries and the new step-grandma is anything but a grandma figure....son, you harbor a lot of pain and rightly so; nonetheless, I'm very proud of you that you joined me on this trip to see him....
One of Ricky's last experiences as a child with his grandfather was when we unexpectedly met at a hardware store, Ricky was in his Little League uniform...something about that last meeting may have led to today's conversation; Ricky wore a Volcom ball cap..my father saw the ball cap and asked Ricky if he and the team had a game tonight...Understanding the situation, Ricky just shook and said "no"..
The visit was short, my father drifting off to sleep during mid-sentence; I pushed his wheelchair around the complex for a while, sat outside and enjoyed the warm desert air and then rolled him back inside...he's definitely eating his meals, matter of fact, he may have gained a pound or two but one last statement from him kinda sums up his frustration and his illness; he said, "God, I feel like I'm losing my mind!" Live another day, Dad...