Wednesday, May 1st, I took Papa for a drive. On these drives I am often overwhelmed by scenes we see. Kentucky is an absolutely beautiful state. This is Moors Mill Road. Papa loves driving these back roads. This one you know you must be careful on. It had no lines. Easy roads to drive have a line down the middle. One knows there is plenty of room for two cars to pass each other. Sometimes the road only has white lines on either outside edge of the road. Those roads you might be able to pass but it is best if one of you pulls your car as far to the side of the road as you can and waits for the other car to pass. When driving these roads there is always a prayer in my heart for us to not see another car or to be at a driveway to a home or a field or a pull off where the mailbox is located. That gives a bit more room for two cars to pass each other. Then there are these roads. No lines. These you really, really, really want to drive slowly and just enjoy and not pass anyone at all. The drive this day was a good one.
Friday, May 3rd, was my father's birthday. He turned 91 years old. Bailey was supposed to have a track meet in Georgetown at Scott County High School Thursday evening. Andie was going to bring her. Hayden and Michael would not be able to attend. Claude and I planned to go in to watch Bailey compete. Andie asked if she and Bailey could spend the night after the meet and go home on Friday. Andie didn't have to teach that day. They let the schools out for Oaks day in the Louisville area. Well, it turned out to be a day with severe thunderstorms. They canceled the meet. I had told Andie about Friday being Papa's birthday and that I was planning to bring him out. I told her it would be great fun for him to have Bailey here on his birthday. After the meet was canceled, Andie determined she would bring Hayden and Bailey and spend Thursday night so they could be here for Papa's birthday on Friday. Yeah!!
I was at the nursing home at 10:30am to pick up Papa. They had him all cleaned up and ready to party hearty. This is Bailey listening, again, to one of Papa's stories. So grateful for this interaction.
Claude made a nice lunch of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad and rolls. We all enjoyed that very good meal. Bailey iced Papa's birthday cake. Claude helped her light the candles and then she nervously brought that well lit cake into the dining room to Papa.
We all sang Happy Birthday to Papa. He loved the candles and the singing. Then I had Hayden slide the cake directly in front of Papa so he could try to blow out the candles. It took him two puffs but he blew them all out. Then he grinned from ear to ear and said, "I did it!" It was a truly fun moment.
I had a few presents for him to open. Then Hayden brought in a Bluetooth speaker and his cellphone. He brought up his school band playing the two songs they won excellent ratings at the Kentucky Music Educators Association competition. They were the only middle school group to receive this rating. Hayden was wise enough to crank up that sound and Papa totally enjoyed listening to these professional sounding bands play really good music. Love it when the grandmonsters think to do something to give him good moments in his life.
At 4pm I loaded Papa into my car and returned him to the nursing home. He had a wonderful time for his 91st birthday. So grateful to Claude for doing the cooking and to Andie and the Mini's for coming all the way over just to be here for his birthday.
Today I took Papa for another car ride. Papa is always saying how he misses living real life. Today, when I got him in my car, I explained that he says that to me a lot. So I thought we would start our ride by doing one of my real life chores. We drove to the new car wash by Walmart. Papa asked if he needed to get out and run around. I assured him he just needed to sit there and enjoy the experience. As we were pulled into the car wash and the water started to pour over the car, Papa was amazed. He said, "This thing does it all! Look, it has soap going all over the car!" I explained that the things going over were actually washing off the car. Then the rinse water came and after that the dryer tried to get some of the water off. Papa was sure he had never done that before and he really thought it was amazing. It was sure a fun experience for me to watch and listen to my father. We drove out of the car wash and onto the highways for a nice drive through the countryside.
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