The day of, the day before

Whew. It's done. We took my dad over to Village Oaks today. When we have brought up the "senior apartment" in conversation, his responses have varied but were mostly agreeable. This morning, his response was not agreeable. "I'm not going there. I'm staying here, or just send me home!" But he did get up when I awakened him, took a shower, and came for breakfast happy as a lark. It's a beautiful day! After he ate, he and I played some gin rummy, then about 100 games of tic tac toe on his dry erase board (how does he win so much????). I had enlisted my husband to come in and say it was time to go, and that triggered the explanation again. But he moved along with us to the car, and over to the center.

He went in happily, met some of the staff and was his usual cordial self shaking hands and cracking jokes. We walked around his area, found his room and went inside. So I'm going to be staying here? Yes, we'll come get you when we get back. Where are you going? And so we did that whole thing again. Well, this is quite a nice apartment!

We went down to the dining area, as we planned to come in time for lunch. Smart idea, huh? I saw a man sitting alone and asked if we could join him. I introduced myself and he said his name was Sam. A small quiet man...and in my head I'm wondering about his story, his family, his life. My dad and Sam shook hands, and I started some small talk about the food, the Diamondbacks (Sam said he only watched it if he bet on the game!). Lunch was served, and as the two men started eating their chicken, stuffing, rice, and corn, I gave my dad a hug and said I'd see him when we got back. OK, sweetie, see you then.

And that was that. Debbie, the nurse, gave me her card and said to call any time, every day if I wanted, to check on him. I'll do that. :) I'm hoping I won't do it everyday. It was kind of like dropping your child off at a new school. I was sad inside, but I know that he will be OK. I can't wait to hear if he participates in karaoke!

We will be leaving in the morning for FL. Now I can start thinking about packing for that trip. I couldn't even think about it before. Procrastination is my name. Hey, it works! :)