Visiting Dad, Mama’s murderous pursuit, chance encounters, Jake

Mama and I had a couple very good visits with Dad. We got to Brenham about 4:30 Friday afternoon and visited with Dad for about an hour. He seemed clear and connected in our conversation; like those times I can remember in the past when he took on the air of authority when delivering some insight he though would help direct my life. It was encouraging to hear that particular style of speech again. When we talk about the Lord and our faith there is always enough common ground to keep his thoughts together, albeit, his vocabulary is more limited than it once was so his verbiage in often - in his own words - comical. 

While we were taking about difficult work situations he was reminiscing about his days working with surgeons who wanted to do things he disagreed with as the anesthesiologist he said, “When we were running the horses though the stable I had to keep those guys in check to make sure we didn’t lose any of the livestock, so to speak.” 

We left that evening promising we would come back the next morning to take him to breakfast but the next morning Mama was feeling pretty poorly. I thought about not going but felt guilty not to go even if he did not remember our promise. So we went, and it is a good thing we did. We fond him in the common room waiting on us. 

The care giver in charge told us he had gotten up that morning telling everyone who would listen that someone was coming to take him to breakfast. (Good thing we went.) She asked Dad as we sat down to talk if I was a friend or a son. Dad looked at me for a good seven seconds and said, “This one’s a son.” That was kind of nice. 

Mama and I debated over where to take him but settled on Denny’s since his heart was set on breakfast. It was fun. He can be quite animated when he is trying to get a point across - and he ate everything that was set in front of him; two pancakes, two eggs and two strips of bacon along with an extra piece Mama gave him. When we got him back to the care facility he was ready for a nap so we prayed with him and headed back to the house in Chappell Hill.

Somewhere in the opening and closing of car doors we picked up a nuisance hitchhiker; a mosquito. Mama was having none of that. In fact, she complained about itching just knowing there was one of the evil blood suckers in the vehicle with her. She tried to smash it by catching it between her clapping hands. That was not effective but people looking over at us thought she was having a really good time. Then she got a paper and rolled it up to smack the bug into the upholstery. I don’t remember of she got it or not. In a few miles it was forgotten but it was fun while it lasted.

On the was home we stopped for supper at another Denny’s. There was an older couple at the table to my back witnessing to a young waiter. His slow spoken, patient, country manner had cowboy written all over it. When they got up to leave I asked what church they attended. It was an Independent Fundamental Baptist church. I was not surprised. As we conversed he told me about an Internet business opportunity with a Christian company he would like to share with me so we exchanged numbers. I will look forward to talking with him even if I cannot take on anything else at the moment. (He called tonight while Mama and I were in FBI class so we will probably talk tomorrow.) 

Speaking of tomorrow, Mama and I are going to get Jake in the morning. This will be his fourth time to come to visit Mama since we moved to Texas. They are both looking forward to it and I can only hope and pray that it will be a good time for both of them - especially since we now have the farm here in Chico. He will, of necessity, be the focus of the next ten days. It is a shorter visit than the two of them have connived in the past, but I think that is for the best. I know he will get a lot of church in the few days he is here with us. That is always a good thing for him.

I will have to ramp up my hearing processor to try to accommodate his incredibly fast way of talking. If that does not work, Chase is coming over and he can translate for me.