It’s clear we had reached another crossroad. Dad could never be left alone to live by himself. After a night spent falling out of bed, Dad was exhausted and disoriented. As I sat with him in the Rehab Center, he was looking for cans under the bed and asking me if I’d...

After dad's time rehabilitating in the nursing home was over, we spent several weeks with me caring for him at the house. Truly an adjustment for both of us, I figured out the best way to help him bathe, when to have him use his walker, and when to wheel him around in...

Just as I was beginning to despair that our new adventure may not be working out, I received an email from our neighbor Brenda about her visit to Dogwood Haven. She included an attachment entitled, “Jack in the Newspaper”. There was my dad with the biggest smile on...

While I could have suggested assisted living several years ago, my dad would have never accepted it. At that time he was too preoccupied with proving he could get along by himself. A live-in caregiver would not have worked well for him either. I was the only one he...

As Dad’s condition worsened, one day I got a call from the Rose Manor nurse who was very concerned because his coloring looked yellow. The nurse said she was sending him to the hospital. His gall bladder had become extremely infected, and he would receive laproscopic...

Now that I’ve told you about my old pops, it only seems fair that I share some of the younger chapters of his life. In recounting some recent incidents about Dad to my daughter Ericka, I mentioned how unbelievably strong-willed, feisty, and stubborn he was. As my...

My Dad would have qualified for acceptance into West Point Military Academy except for his eyesight. He didn’t pass the eye exam. The optometrist who examined him suggested he consider a career in optometry. Dad followed up on that suggestion and went into the...

Dad and Mom retired in 1978 and began the search for their “Golden Pond”. They found a number of acres in Northern Alabama--a beautiful tract of land with a 25-acre lake set back from the main road in isolated woods. They fulfilled their dream by building what their...

Ken and I visited several times. Dad was hanging in there. He enjoyed his independence and privacy. He studied investing, and lined his book shelves with numerous books on healthcare, money management, and other practical skills. For years Dad collected coins. Coins...