wow, my dad's mental condition is really deteriorating

he hasn't worked since a car ran into the semi he was driving head on last year.

so he's been more or less a shut in. had really bad neck and back injuries.

he called me this morning and asked if i would drive him to purchase a lawnmower.

i said, fine, no problem and went over there.

anyway, he has me call wal mart to find out prices. the cheapest one was 120.00, so he wants to go to a pawnshop.

no big deal, we find a decent one for about 60 bucks.

go to the counter and he couldn't get it right. he kept counting the money over and over. by the time i intervened, he had a jumble of 150 in various denominations in a bundle and i sorted it out.

he asked me to drink a beer with him. my mother (she works in the daytime) doesn't allow alcohol in the house, but i said, "yeah, sure" and got us two quarts of miller high life.

he's out there right now mowing the grass.

it's weird, i always remember him being a person who instilled fear in others, highly respected among his street associates and a fixture in our old neighborhood when i was growing up.

kinda strange seeing him as a hobbled old man who can't even count money anymore.

but he seems to be having fun with the lawnmower though.

Believe me, he notices it too.

Very sad datasuspect. Kudos for being there for him, tho.

it's strange though, he was always such a bastard when i was growing up.

one of those situations where i always knew NOTHING bad would happen to me if he was around (when i was child), but i never could trust him.

he was the guy, who, when i told him that maury across the way grabbed me by the scruff of my neck when i teased his daughters, ran outside in his boxers, kicked the guy's door in and dragged him out into the street and kicked the living shit out of him.

then the cops arrested maury.

yeah, those were crazy days indeed.

But I'm glad he is out having fun.

None of my business, I know, but "got us two quarts of miller high life" ?

:shrug:

I'm a worrier by nature especially about those I am fond of. (<----see? dangling!)

probably not the best thing, the only thing i'm worried about is if he lets it slip to mom. she'll chew my ass out.

*ahem*

i think today i will somehow engineer a bender.

i am in the preliminary stages.

somehow one beer is not sufficient.

Are you sure you want to do that?

Be careful.

You are too far for me to go beat up.

:spank:

last time, i found myself getting thrown off an amtrak train in the middle of a corn field in missourah.

what state do you live in?

DUH

That shouldn't happen to someone so young.

and it is heartbreaking to see them get old.

Just saw my friends father who I feared somewhat as a child. Now he is in the same boat as your dad. It'd such a surreal experience to watch someone get old. Best wishes to you and your dad.

i could carry a grudge against the guy, but i don't think he ever knew any better.

no sense in letting him just sit there without a lawnmower.

it's weird, because he NEVER calls me.

and as I grow older, I have let all my grudges go. I finally realized that they served no purpose. Took me a little while to realize that though.

as i get older, i understand how awful it must have been for them as children.

He has dementia and sometimes doesn't remember his family members.

But this visit he did and told wonderful stories about his life in South Dakota in 1933-34 (he says "people called them the good old days, they weren't good, that was some hard livin") and about moving here to Iowa in the 1950's. It was awesome.

I feel like he's entering a new chapter in his life, where it's easier to remember the past then it is to keep up with the day-to-day in the present.

Good luck to you and your father. It's good that you are there for him.

and talk about all these goombatz from the neighborhood like the shit just happened yesterday.

i know what you mean.

I have a cousin who is in the process this week of moving her elderly parents from their house in Chicago to an assisted living facility in Delavan, WI, near where she lives.

Transitioning her parents from their house and independence to another lifestyle is proving extremely tough.

Get rid of the beer evidence before Mom gets home.

:hi:

Good of you to be there for him. I'm glad he's enjoying the lawnmower.