I mentioned my parents went to a party on Saturday. Their friends up in Harvard were hosting what they called a fall festival, and dad figured they'd be bringing home leftovers like they did from the friends' summer barbecue. Imagine my disappointment when there were zero treats that were brought back; there were three plates of food in July. Dad ( Read more... )

It's been a tough week for my dad. Every day, he's been giving me updates about his friend Ray, who lives in Mississippi. His health is failing. He's gone on hospice. His breathing is labored. And then, when I got home from band last night, he said that Ray passed away this morning. Today, dad texted me the obituary while I was at work ( Read more... )

Dad and I went grocery shopping this morning, because we could, and as we were pulling into our parking spot I noticed an older guy sitting in his car across the lane. I figured he was leaving and said something to dad, like, don't dawdle and keep this guy waiting. As we were getting out of the car, I noticed the guy had gotten out of his and was ( Read more... )

(I'm having to do this on my phone. Whatever is causing our internet to suck, I hope it's taken care of soon. This is ridiculous ( Read more... )

Dad's had a busy week or two recently with the neighbors ( Read more... )

Yesterday was my parents' 46th wedding anniversary. Being a Sunday, it was pretty mundane, though mom didn't have Zumba and my grandma was spending the weekend at my uncle's house, so we didn't have the weekly phone call. (She did just call at 9 PM tonight to return my mom's call, so we know she made it home at least ( Read more... )

My dad is on a text chain with his sisters and a couple nieces. This week, one of them sent this text along with a picture of her youngest daughter sitting on Santa's lap; the picture is probably about 10 years old: "Sometimes your phone recognition asks you for same or different. Why didn't you tell us you were Santa Claus uncle (dad's name ( Read more... )

My dad has wanted to make bread pudding for a few weeks now. Last week, when I was buying, he scouted the bread section and found some challah. This week, when he was buying, we could only find a few loaves, all of which had raisins. Dad didn't think they were big loaves and ended up getting a package of sliced brioche. And one of the challah, for ( Read more... )

My dad got a flu shot and a covid booster on Tuesday. Based on past experience, he had a feeling he wouldn't feel so hot on Wednesday, which came to pass. This is why, when the phone rang before 8:30 AM, I felt bad for him; I knew he'd prefer not to be disturbed ( Read more... )

Back at the end of June, when mom and grandma took a bus trip to Four Winds in New Buffalo, MI, mom liked it enough to say she thought dad might want to go. It's just over the IN/MI border, so not too far; mom was saying it was under two hours to get there. That seemed dubious to me, since you basically pass camp along the way and it takes me 2 ( Read more... )