what language do you speak?

dear ole' dad called me this morning at
8:18 a.m. 
me " hi dad!"
him, "hi. hey i was wondering what day is today?" 
"saturday"
"saturday the what?"
"let me check a calendar. ..the 25th."
 "okay"
dad pauses then asks,

"if i was to write the date how would it look?
how would 2012 look?"
 i pause and wonder what he's writing?


"well pops, if you were to write it on a check  it 
could be like this two dash twenty five dash one two." 


i hear him trying to write this down.
eventually he tells me
"well...i gotta write it on that, that, ....thing....
to take to town today."


fortunately i speak dad-ese
and even more fortuitous i can remember
our conversation from the day before!
 "the prescription?"
"yes."
"okay. they would probably fill it in for you,
and that would be fine."

in january he had a urology checkup.
doc knew the old 'script was getting nearly empty.
he gave us a new one to turn in, just didn't date it.
told us to do so when dad needed it filled.
well...........
we ALL forgot about that prescription.
dad and sister-bird took the bottle in to 
get it refilled, and pharmacy had been trying to
contact the doc for new 'script.
(sister hadn't looked at the bottle so didn't 
realize which one it was)
yesterday when dad is telling me he still can't get it filled
i begin to think.
waaaaay back in the dusty hallways of my brain is 
a small flame flickering.
something about an un-dated prescription.

after some hunting and seeking dad finds the 'script
right where he puts all important doc info...
on his dresser.
we discuss what the docs name is, how it's spelled,
.....and he finds it. 
which has led us to this mornings call.

 fyi....
yes we KNOW dad cannot live by himself .
my brother lives right next door.  


mom used to say to us,
"now take care of dad. oh... i know you will."
and sometimes towards the end of her earthly life
"i'm sorry to leave. i'm sorry to leave you with having 
to take care of dad."

we always assured her it was fine.
we were capable, we could do it.

often in the past 6 weeks sister-bird
and i have said..." wish mom was here."
"if mom was here we could ask her...."
and sometimes
"thanks a lot mom."

but we are becoming more fluent in dad-ese
and de-coding whatever is the perplexing thing.

plus we are amazed what he does remember.
things from long ago. they will be clear as can be.
however....
last saturday when i phone chatted w/dad
i mentioned the next day was sunday.
dad said " i hope i remember that tomorrow."
"i'll call you in the morning"
"okay."
and so i did.

"good morning dad. it's sunday. are you getting ready
for church?"
" no..... i took a nap..... 
it's a good thing you called and woke me up. 
i thought it was sunday, but i wasn't quite sure."
okay.
 
as to how dads shoulder is?
aka pops, not better.
but he did drive to town so guessing that's do-able.
i'll go visit him on monday and see for myself.

how am i doing 6 weeks since mom's been gone?
well yesterday we went to a funeral for a friend
whose dad had died. 
i told brown-eyed-handsome-man
"i've not cried in a week. i don't know how 
i will do today." 
sure enough, we got there, 
i hugged my favorite mom-in-love,
sat down and the tears trickled out. 
the service hadn't even started!
i formed a plan to leave if necessary,
but managed to just weep quietly at times.
and it's not like i was the only one, 
it was a funeral after all.
i hurt for my friend and his family.
i hurt for myself.

this is how it goes.

however tonight brown-eyed-handsome-man
and i are doing a fun thing.
bill cosby is in the area and we have tickets.

i hope to laugh, laugh, and laugh again. 
i won't even care if tears run down my face 
in laughter. 

and yes, tomorrow morning i will make a phone call
"good morning dad! its sunday. you can go to church." 

and then i will finish getting ready and go 
speak to The Man who understands any language.
especially dad-ese.