Between2 - Veteran's Day

Dad and I had a late lunch out today. He is a veteran with five honorable discharges and Applebee’s was hosting a free dinner for all veterans and active service men.

We chose to go mid-afternoon in hopes of missing the crowd. Not a chance. The place was packed. As I gave my name to the hostess and she asked if there was a veteran with me, I noted she was keeping track and every name on the list had at least one veteran, and up to four, with their party.

You really don’t realize how many people were and are touched by our armed forces. I saw hats on veterans stating they were from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Didn’t see any Iran, Gulf or Afghanistan but I bet there were many among the crowd.

Dad and I both thought how wonderful this meal was for the many we have heard of that are homeless veterans. We hoped they had heard about it too.

How incredible that Applebee’s and many other restaurants chose to honor our men and women with military backgrounds. I saw total strangers thanking the older veterans for their service.

Another really impressive act was that the restaurant had worked with the local schools to have the children make thank you cards for the veterans. We whiled away the time waiting for a seat by reading through a handful of these cards with sentiments that made your eyes tear up. These were children that are being taught to appreciate the sacrifice these wonderful men and women had made to keep this county free.

The afternoon was spent among friends we didn’t know, eating a dinner that was hosted by people we didn’t know, but we were all one community, one nation under God.

Between2 - Dreaming about Kansas

Fast forward to the end of September, dad is healed, the porch is close to finished and I have lost 49 pounds.

I was agonizing over which raincoat to take to Kansas. Dale said I should bring a light coat. I don’t have anything that fits. I’ve gone from a size 24 to a 14 – six dress sizes. I gave one hundred and forty-five pieces of clothing, size 24, to ‘Transitions,’ a charity that helps women from abusive relationships get back into the workplace. Little did I know that I would not need a coat. I should have taken shorts instead. It never got lower than 75 degrees during the day.

Dad and I were on our first vacation together without mom. Kansas was not entirely what I had expected. Western Kansas is still relatively flat, but it has trees – lovely sycamores and oaks. They have beautiful structure that I longed to paint. If I go again I am going to take my paints.

I loved the little town of Council Grove and all the people in it. It felt like home. There is an empty movie theater in town that I would love to get my hands on. I wish I had an extra couple of hundred thousand, I would buy it.

There is a need for entertainment for the young adults in the town. I am told that the kids in town have plenty of events and activities available to them until they graduate from high school, then it is a vast wasteland. The closest place for even a movie is 45 minutes away.

I would invest in the youth of the community. I love the college age kids.

Let me dream a bit.

The theater would be a gathering place for the 18 to 30 somethings. Just a cover charge at the door and everything would be available to them except food and drink (non-alcoholic).

Let’s tear out half the seats and put in tables between the rows so you can eat your pizza or fries as you watch the movie.

There is evidence, from the building of a Life Center (gym), that the town’s folks seem to be able to pull together. Perhaps I could get the Pizza Hut, Sonics and Dairy Queen to alternate “guest chef” night. They supply the food to match the event and we sell it for them. I like the idea of working to assist everyone in the community.

While we’re redecorating let’s tear out the seats closest to the screen and install a dance floor. On the nights there was not a film, there would be music and dancing. Maybe showcase some local bands.

If there is a basement, I would convert it into a giant gaming room with a 50 foot screen on each of the four walls. Lots of comfy chairs and couches in the middle to make gaming hours fly by.

Maybe there would be a time we would share the space with adults in the form of bingo afternoons and romance movies for those who are interested. Perhaps there could be an afternoon when mothers with children are encouraged to come without worry of a child crying.

We would take advantage of every holiday to have a cool event to prepare and attend. The week of Halloween we would show nothing but horror films and have a costume ball.

Thanksgiving we would show films with a message and have a turkey trot or a Sadie Hawkins dance. Christmas we would bathe ourselves in the season of giving with films and fantasy, and host a ‘winter white’ dance with all those old romantic songs we are afraid to admit we like.

How about we decorate to lift spirits and create a cool atmosphere. Paint can take us a long way. I love doing murals. Maybe there are some young artists in town that would loan their talents to the theatre for a few weeks of free admission and to feel the buy-in of having their art on the walls of their gathering place.

And, let’s talk about employees. We could use some young adults to keep us on top of the latest games that need to be purchased, the latest trends in what the younger set would like to see, and folks that can help handle the crowd because they know the players.

Ah, I love dreaming. No limits - just an over active imagination with an out-of-reach goal - for the moment anyway.

Between2 - 9 Lives

The surgery went well, but the aftermath was difficult. Dad spent an extra two days in the hospital trying to get the pain level under control. He is allergic to so many painkillers.

He really needed to have his gallbladder out. The surgeon said it was full of little black stones – the kind a person’s body wants to sluff off. There would have been further emergency episodes.

I told dad that between him and mom they are fast using up my 9 lives.

Mom’s fall where she hit her head on the porch step – end of my 1^st life.

Mom’s fall where she hit her head on the antique rocker that required six staples in her head, and brought a tea party to an abrupt end – end of my 2^nd life.

Dad’s flu episode where I found him prostrate on the floor of the bathroom at 2:00 in the morning, thinking he had another heart attack – end of my 3^rd life.

Dad’s bout with shingles that appeared to be another heart attack – end of my 4^th life.

They were beginning to pile up, and not in my favor.

Then there was the latest ‘dad episode.’ That leaves only 4. I told dad I needed some for my old age, he was going to have to stop doing this.

Between2 - Gallstones and Porches

Where do I begin? So much has happened since my last entry.

I suppose the most important information is that dad didn’t have a heart attack. He passed a gallstone. Who would have known it could mimic a heart attack like that? The thing that gave it away was that all dad’s heart tests came back clear, however, when they went to release him he had uncontrolled chills and a 102 fever. They transferred him from the cardiac ward to the general hospital and ran more tests. That’s when they found the gallstones.

But, taking care of the stones was not as easy as it might have been. Dad was on blood thinners for his heart and had to be off of them for two weeks prior to surgery. So, he was sent home to wait, and wait and wait.

The back porch nagged at him. It was framed in, and the solid portion of the roof had been built, but the lath was still in the bundles, it was still raw, unpainted wood and the screen was just an gleam in our eyes.

Iain, the head of the mailroom at work, said he understood how dad felt. His father-in-law was constantly nagged by unfinished projects he didn’t have the energy for any longer. He offered to put together a work team to finish up the porch. I thankfully accepted.

Iain got ten people to help. They had it finished and painted by 4:00 that afternoon. I promised to feed them, but had to take a break to rush dad to the hospital yet again. He woke with a nosebleed and just couldn’t get it stopped. By 11:30 a.m. if seemed like it was best to let a professional take care of it. I left Iain in charge of the work party and Kathleen in charge of getting lunch ready. I had promised everyone BBQ ribs, salad and baked potatoes.

I got dad in to the urgent care part of the hospital, made sure he was stable, and left him my cell phone to call me when he was ready to come home. After all, I had ten hungry people at home (across the street), working for free, that needed to be fed.

Dad made it home in time for leftovers – nose plug in place.

The porch looks fabulous. It is a ‘Theresa - magnet.’ I come home now and immediately fix dinner and it’s out to the porch to eat it and sit in the rocker. Dad is much more relaxed and happy that there is only the middle double door to finish.

I can’t thank Iain enough. He really came through. I owe him one, or even two, or maybe three.

Between2 - Listen to Henry

Dad and I were supposed to go to Walla Walla to visit Angie this past weekend. I got Friday off so we could make it a long one. We were going to see Angie and Brian’s new home, visit, sightsee, and eat.

Angie had a whole agenda planned including a list of the meals she was going to fix – huckleberry pancakes for dad and lots of veggies for me.

None of that happened.

Stanley, the cat, was showing signs of a really bad allergy attack on Wednesday, so I had dad call the vet during the day. The vet said to bring him in – sounded like more than allergies. We took him in at 6:30 pm and $157.00 later took him home with antibiotics and fluids. The vet thought he had laryngitis.

At 1:00 a.m. Thursday morning I was awakened by Stanley trying desperately to get his breath. He was choking. A wild trip to the vet, three hours, and $239.00 later, they sent me home with pain meds and a cat that most likely had an upper respiratory infection.

I fell into bed at 4:30 a.m.

At 6:00 a.m. dad woke me up out of a sound sleep. He was standing by the side of the bed, his hand to the side of his head with blood dripping off his elbow. “I think I need your help,” he said. “I fell in the garden and hit my head.”

As I endeavored to staunch the flow of blood he told me he had gone out to feed the squirrels and the birds, slipped on a round rock in the garden and hit his head on the metal top of the birdbath. The metal top is a sundial and therefore not attached to the concrete bottom – thank heaven. He did enough damage with the metal top flying off.

I didn’t think it needed stitches so, bandaged and asprin-ed, he went to sit in his favorite chair with the paper and a cup of coffee.

I went back to bed, sick at my stomach from one emergency after another and lack of sleep.

When I finally got up at about 10:00 a.m. I had to call Angie and Ruth and tell them we were not coming/going. I had a cat to medicate and a dad that now had a throbbing headache. I stayed home from work and took dad to an already scheduled doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. The doctor complimented me on my bandaging and told dad he had the option of a stitch or not. Dad opted for NOT.

Friday I chose to work. Why take a vacation day when I wasn’t going anywhere? I grumbled and groused. I really hated missing my time with Angie.

But, Saturday morning all was to be revealed – the underlying reason for my foiled plans - the power behind the universe – the hand of my guardian angel – whatever.

Dad had a heart attack. We barely made it across the street to the hospital. If we had been at Angie’s, fifteen miles up a dirt road, twenty-five minutes from the hospital in Walla Walla, he wouldn’t have made it.

He had ten medical personnel working on him and three trying to calm my down in the hall. I kept saying, “I just lost my mom in April. I can’t lose him too.”

He is sleeping comfortably at the hospital now. He will have tests run today and will hopefully come home soon.

If it hadn’t been for the cat being sick, we would have been in Walla Walla far from medical treatment. Henry, my guardian angel knew I would stay home for a sick cat so he took care of things as usual. I have gotten used to listening for his little taps on the shoulder. Now I need to remember not to grumble or grouse until I see the end result. I had to apologize to him in my prayers last night.

I am exhausted and need to get some rest from the last four days. Hopefully, that will come soon.

Stanley is on the road to recovery.

Life does go on – thankfully.