Sometimes not remembering what happened yesterday or even five minutes ago has its advantages. Yesterday doesn’t drag you down or rob your attention from what’s happening now, and every moment is new and fresh, leaving you to enjoy life today. That’s one way to look...

As if from a deep sleep, a new, feisty era in my dad’s life rubbed its eyes, blinked and awakened. Leaving Ken, the wonderful man in my life to fend for himself, I nestled down in Alabama to watch over Dad. Dad could not thank me enough for my help. When I arrived,...

The unleashing began with the leaf blower. While working at the computer, I heard the muffled buzz. Dad was blowing away all the leaves, and cleaning up the steps and porch. Then an engine started up, and he drove off in his truck without finishing, abandoning a mound...

Hoping Dad would bask in truck crash memories awhile longer, I worked on my computer-based business. However, Dad was still set on proving his survival capabilities. While chatting on the phone with our neighbor Brenda, out of the corner of my eye, I saw dad wearing a...

Our neighbor Brenda called and asked if she could borrow our leaf blower.  There sat the leaf blower ever–ready, outside on the steps where my Dad had left it. It dawned on me that it was out of fuel. I found the leaf-blower manual and was checking for fuel...

Dad’s “re-activation” plan moved onto the next phase, and he began bugging me about getting the trucks fixed. The truck he bashed up was a 1986 Ford Ranger. His other truck, a 1987 Ford, had not run in awhile. My son Brad came over and got the Ranger out of the tree....

Yes, things were going very well. Whenever Dad got a bit antsy, he would go for a walk, and his restlessness would fade away. As he was setting out for another walk, I cheerfully wished him a good one and said I would see him soon. What other man 88 years old walks...

After consulting with our neighbor Wydean, the neighborhood authority on who’s who and what’s what in Fort Payne, we were up-to-date on hospital horror stories. We followed her strict advice to admit Dad to Gadsden Regional Medical Center through their emergency...

The next day Dad was still awake and hallucinating due to lack of sleep and the "sedative". In his crazed state of mind, he began seeing bugs on my face and hot dogs in the trees outside the window. He started threading a line on his invisible fishing rod and casting...

According to the chest x-ray, dad’s pneumonia had cleared up. A week after being admitted, he was released at 5:00 p.m. and driven by ambulance to the Rehab Center (nursing home) in Fort Payne. Here he would remain until able to get around better. At this facility,...