sunshine0221's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Amazing Race, Part 2 The Amazing Race, Part 2 Honestly, this part isn't very Amazing Race'y, but hey, if you have a Part 1, you gotta have a Part 2 right? Part 1 is here . So I'm at the motel in Sacramento. I pull out my handy dandy Yahoo map of the directions to get to Dad's place. The map didn't work so well - I couldn't find American River Drive - so I went back to the motel and called Dad and got better directions Dad's place, as of the end of November is an assisted living facility. He had been in independent living, but they kicked him out because he needed too much care. Back in the car, and a few minutes later I'm at Dad's facility. Which is absolutely gorgeous. It is brand new, and elegant and opulent, with a large lobby, courtyard with a hugantic fountain, and nice landscaping. I get to Dad's apartment, and it's small but nice. It has really high ceilings which makes it seem larger. Dad�s using a walker now, and often quite unsteady on his feet, but looking, and I suspect feeling better because he has a wonderful caregiver, Michelle, who helps take care of him, plus he is taking his medications correctly because the staff at his facility gives them to him. By then, I was pretty exhausted, so Dad and I took dual geezer naps while we watched Dad TV (Sports or CNN). We had dinner at is place. The dining room was lovely, no surprise, and the food was pretty good too. I left pretty early, went back to the motel, and conked out. I slept for 10 hours, went and had breakfast at the Denny�s next door (props to their apple pancakes) and then headed over to Dad�s. Which I couldn�t find. Because clearly that had moved the whole facility since the day before. I U-Turned back on Fulton, and magically his facility had reappeared. And me getting lost became the joke of the visit, which is not really fair, because I only got lost twice. My aunt and uncle came down from Vacaville and we all went to lunch at Red Lobster. When I�m with my Dad, I can�t help feeling that everything would be better if I could just understand him. Which I really don�t. I know he�s selfish. I know he seems to have no awareness of other people. My uncle has been having some health problems, and mentioned that he is undergoing chemo. Later that afternoon I asked Dad about it, and he had no idea why his brother in-law of 50 years was having chemo. I can�t even imagine. Dad doesn�t really talk much, or listen. We watched a few basketball and football games together, and he seemed to enjoy that. Michelle has been Dad�s caregiver for the past few years. They bicker like an old married couple, and she makes him wear clean clothes, and patches him up when he falls, and she makes sure he is getting the care he needs. She takes him to the doctor, makes sure his facility is doing all that they should do. She calls me a lot, keeps me posted on what is going on with Dad, and I don�t think he has any idea how lucky he is to have her. On the Saturday I left, I got up early, went over to see Dad, and then headed to the airport. It was FOGGY. I made it to the airport fine, returned the rental car (which I am still missing � I loved that car), and took the shuttle to the terminal. When I got to the checkout counter, I found out that: My. Flight. Was. Cancelled. I was supposed to fly to Chicago, but apparently there were weather issues, so I got rerouted through Denver. It took a little bit longer than planned, but I was back in Cedar Rapids by around 10:15 that evening. And because the Travel Gods have a wacky sense of humor, it was snowing, and the roads and visibility were horrible. At this point I was going to get home that night no matter what. I limped along until the weather and roads cleared up 30 or so miles later, and made it home by midnight. The End 11:06 p.m. - December 28, 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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