Take the Time
I'm really terrible...when it comes to calling or visiting people. So this week I've really been thinking about my dad a lot. So much that I finally decided to call him. We haven't seen or talked to each other since Christmas. We had a great conversation. Talked about a little of this and a little of that. It was nice.
We live an hour apart. We've been accustomed to getting together only once or twice a year for a long time now. So I thought that after he lost his wife, we should try to spend more time with him. That was a few years ago and it seems like we've been in the same pattern. But I want to change that. At least see each other every couple of months.
Really none of us is guaranteed a tomorrow. My half-brother just lost his dad two days ago. There was a little warning that this was coming. Thankfully my brother had a chance to spend some time with him before he passed away.
Seriously I had been thinking about calling my dad all week, and then I heard about that. Which just really makes me want to go out of my way more to see him. We're planning on a barbeque in a few weeks, if the weather co-operates. My kids love their Grandpa James. Love hearing his funny stories and seeing him play with his little dog. He's always playing little jokes on us. Yes, we need to spend more time with him.
Life is precious and we need to take advantage of every opportunity to spend time with the ones we love. We need to take the time.
My dad was with my step-mother for 20 years. He was there for her during her illness all the way until the end. Whenever I'd visit before she passed away, she'd look at me and say, "Your dad is the kindest man I have ever known." Since he has his own lawn care business, he was able to adjust his schedule so that he could go home and check on her, get her lunch and take her to all her appointments. I was really proud of him.
After Lynn passed away, he would spend even more time relieving my aunt that was caring for my grandmother that had alzheimers. He'd sit and ask her who he was and about "Roy"- my grandfather that passed away a long while back. She'd say funny things all the time. I saw, by his being there and by being willing to help out, just how much he loved his mother. In her last few months of life, she had to be moved to a rest home. She had finally gotten to be too much for my aunt to handle, but she and my dad went over there every day, taking turns feeding her her meals. It just warms my heart, the love I see. It's been almost a year since Granny passed away.
When I was talking to my dad, he mentioned his little friend, Coy (95). Coy and his wife, had been one of my dad's customers. After my dad's wife died, he began taking his little dog over to visit them. They just loved his dog. It brought such joy to Coy's wife. In time, she too, passed away. So that left my dad and Coy. My dad started taking Coy out for a chicken dinner, every week, at some little place they both liked. He'd spend Thanksgiving with him as well as well as doing some other things with him.
So today, when my dad said he had to put Coy in a home, and that Coy wasn't happy about it, I said, "I bet your going and visiting him." He said he was checking in on him once a day. I get tears in my eyes just thinking about these things he is doing. How Coy will look forward to seeing my dad everyday. How that will make having to be put in a home so much more tolerable. Another cute little tidbit was how when my grandma was in the rest home, my dad saw that so many didn't receive any visitors. He went down to the dollar store and bought every one of them Santa Claus stockings. I can just imagine him happily giving them out to all the old folks there.
Yes, I need to start spending some more time with my dad.
It's the little things that make a huge difference in life. It's about caring for people.
We live an hour apart. We've been accustomed to getting together only once or twice a year for a long time now. So I thought that after he lost his wife, we should try to spend more time with him. That was a few years ago and it seems like we've been in the same pattern. But I want to change that. At least see each other every couple of months.
Really none of us is guaranteed a tomorrow. My half-brother just lost his dad two days ago. There was a little warning that this was coming. Thankfully my brother had a chance to spend some time with him before he passed away.
Seriously I had been thinking about calling my dad all week, and then I heard about that. Which just really makes me want to go out of my way more to see him. We're planning on a barbeque in a few weeks, if the weather co-operates. My kids love their Grandpa James. Love hearing his funny stories and seeing him play with his little dog. He's always playing little jokes on us. Yes, we need to spend more time with him.
Life is precious and we need to take advantage of every opportunity to spend time with the ones we love. We need to take the time.
My dad was with my step-mother for 20 years. He was there for her during her illness all the way until the end. Whenever I'd visit before she passed away, she'd look at me and say, "Your dad is the kindest man I have ever known." Since he has his own lawn care business, he was able to adjust his schedule so that he could go home and check on her, get her lunch and take her to all her appointments. I was really proud of him.
After Lynn passed away, he would spend even more time relieving my aunt that was caring for my grandmother that had alzheimers. He'd sit and ask her who he was and about "Roy"- my grandfather that passed away a long while back. She'd say funny things all the time. I saw, by his being there and by being willing to help out, just how much he loved his mother. In her last few months of life, she had to be moved to a rest home. She had finally gotten to be too much for my aunt to handle, but she and my dad went over there every day, taking turns feeding her her meals. It just warms my heart, the love I see. It's been almost a year since Granny passed away.
When I was talking to my dad, he mentioned his little friend, Coy (95). Coy and his wife, had been one of my dad's customers. After my dad's wife died, he began taking his little dog over to visit them. They just loved his dog. It brought such joy to Coy's wife. In time, she too, passed away. So that left my dad and Coy. My dad started taking Coy out for a chicken dinner, every week, at some little place they both liked. He'd spend Thanksgiving with him as well as well as doing some other things with him.
So today, when my dad said he had to put Coy in a home, and that Coy wasn't happy about it, I said, "I bet your going and visiting him." He said he was checking in on him once a day. I get tears in my eyes just thinking about these things he is doing. How Coy will look forward to seeing my dad everyday. How that will make having to be put in a home so much more tolerable. Another cute little tidbit was how when my grandma was in the rest home, my dad saw that so many didn't receive any visitors. He went down to the dollar store and bought every one of them Santa Claus stockings. I can just imagine him happily giving them out to all the old folks there.
Yes, I need to start spending some more time with my dad.
It's the little things that make a huge difference in life. It's about caring for people.
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