not-so-sticky

Even now, Dad tries to hide the issues with his memory. It's embarrassing to him and I think it was for a long time before anyone could identify a 'problem' with Dad. In some ways, Dad is still very clever so it's hard to tell when he's kidding and when he isn't. And I think because of this, I am uncertain the problems with Dad's memory really began. A couple of Friday afternoons ago, Kyrce and I wandered Uptown to Hudson Coffee Traders with Dad to meet an old friend of ours we hadn't seen in a year. No one was around to keep an eye on Dad so I decided to bring him with me. I thought he might enjoy tagging along and getting out of the house for a bit. Dad was truly in rare form on this afternoon. I don't think any of us could get a sentence out without Dad interrupting. When I asked him to please not interrupt, he insisted that if he didn't interrupt, we'd never let him get a sentence in! Disgusted with us trying to quiet him, he decided he...

Step by step, I walked Dad through the routine. "Empty your pockets." He emptied his pockets. "Take off your shoes." He took off his socks. "Now take off your socks." He took off his socks and looked up at me from where he was seated on his bed. " You're really enjoying this, aren't you? " he asked. I sighed. "O.K., let's go to the shower," I said. " What? But I don't have any shoes on! " "You don't need your shoes in the shower," I explained. He looked at with suspicion and a touch of irritation but he cooperated. "O.K., take off your shirt...now take off your eyeglasses...O.K., now I'm going to put shampoo in your hair," I explain as I dampen his hair over the sink and suds his hair. " Don't over-do it ," he directs me, sounding a bit cranky. His hair soaped up, I fiddled with the temperature of the water. "O.K., now take off your pants." " Heavens! ...

Yesterday I woke up, ate some meals, did some chores, wrangled the children, developed a head cold, fell asleep. That's about it. Not anything particularly interesting, although I'm sure Lily or Liam did something cute, or Dad said something funny... If you asked me next week, I could probably tell you some general details, not because I actually recall anything, but because it's the same thing I do day in and day out. A couple of days ago, I was in the bathroom with my daughter, Lily. She was still playing around in the shower, and I was peeking at myself in the mirror so that I could only see my eyes. I shrank down, and made it so I could only see my eyes in the mirror, and from that perspective, I was happy to find, I resembled the person stage I had been 10 years earlier. Not that this was the best part of the moment. The best part of the moment was, as I was inspecting my reflection in the mirror, my daughter started belting out this great Dan Zanes song she likes, ...