Halloween costumes, visiting with Dad

Today, management allowed those who would like to to dress up in Halloween costumes. Some were pretty inventive, some were very comical and some were coordinated to be a cast of characters from Star Wars. One entire department put on a display of about ten characters from the series including Princess Leah, Luke Skywalker, Darth Mal, Yoda, Obi-Wan, Darth Vader and some sand people. It was pretty impressive. One of our younger female sales persons dressed up as a bumble bee in black leggings with a little tutu of frills in yellow and black; not one of the costumes i could really study. In fact, I had to look the other way quite often. There were witches and withered old men. A penguin and a trapper with his son - also in costume. One of the ladies I work with dressed as the Firefox log - complete with twitching ears and wagging tail. She had to turn off the ears in our first meeting because they were sound activated and it was making the presenter nervous. She was going to wear them to a ball game that her son was to play in tonight. I suggested she have an extra set of batteries on hand since the noise would never stop.

Over the weekend I drove down to help Martha and whomever else showed up to clear out the big house and some of the outbuildings. Don on Friday night, back on Saturday afternoon. With our roundabout way of skirting Ft Worth I did not get into too much traffic, which was good since I left Decatur at 5 pm. Saturday morning Martha and I started at 7:30 and were joined by Cathie, Chuck and one of their teen sons about 10 a.m. I worked until about 1 pm and I called it a day at the house so I would have time to go see Dad and still make it home before dark. That was stretching it but I did make it.

My visit with dad was a very good one. I could have spent a couple hours because he was in good spirits and very chatty. I found him in the common area so I pulled up a chair and sat down where he was. He is having difficulty getting up and down so it was good to see him out of his room. As soon as he saw me his face lit up. It was very encouraging to be welcomed in that way since last time we visited he seemed to be really struggling to get any words out. He asked me my age and reflected that most of his issues stem more from advancing years that any other ailment. He talked about Mom’s quick fading away and his lingering as he waits on the Lord to take him home.

We spent the majority of our time talking about the Lord. That is the one area where he really can connect. He seemed to really enjoy the conversation and the interaction and I wish I could have stayed longer but I got ready to leave after about an hour. He started to get up but I waved him back and we prayed right where he was. It caused a bit of a stir in the people around us but Dad enjoys prayer more than he enjoys any other conversation. He has a sense of ‘knowing” when it comes to prayer. In that type of conversation he becomes a true, engaged participant. He probably could not word a prayer by himself but he certainly can enjoy listening in on one. To some it seems like a little thing, but not to Dad. 

I wish I could get there more often but my new full-tine job leaves me with full days and short evenings. It would be lying to say I am enjoying the job more each day but I can honestly say I am learning to do it better day by day.

The pleasure will come later.