My father has not been himself lately. He is just a few days out of a hospital stay where he received IVs and was not a particularly good patient. This morning I took him to the clinic for a follow-up appointment and labs. He is not eating or drinking well. At lunch I scooped up a few bites of cottage cheese into a spoon and fed him. My slight father is now gaunt and thin. Here on this path walking he is more himself. His walk is steady and firm. We talk little. “I don’t want to go to the nursing home,” he says. I know. But I can’t promise. Our path winds around a tall cottonwood tree with a rugged trunk. Nearby a fallen limb melds into the soil. We have entered a hidden meadow surrounded by trees.There are remnants here of happy times, of picnics and bonfires. At the far end of the clearing we come to the spot where we often turn around. Surely he is tired. We are a long way from the house. My father acts as if he is going to continue on. But when I ask him he turns and returns to the house with me.
At the house the light on the answering machine is blinking. Just as I am trying to listen, the phone rings. It is the clinic. Lab tests showed that he needs another IV but they are closing soon. Can we come right away? We hustle to the car and return to the clinic. Lying on the bed receiving the IV he seems so small and weak. His PA, a pleasant, compassionate young woman comes by to check on him. “He’s always been so strong,” I murmur. She pauses and her voice catches a bit, “Ninety sucks.”
There’s an errand I need to do before we go home. We stop at the store and Dad stays in the car. At the checkout I notice some grape pop in the cooler. The bottle looks frosty and cold. Good. So I grab a couple of bottles and purchase them. My father is a child of the Depression. He is not given to self-indulgence. Ever. His current condition has highlighted this propensity with cloudy thinking. Just today as we were preparing for our walk he said, “We mustn't waste our coats.” So when I show him the pop, he shakes his head. But I remove the lid and place the bottle in his hand.
Driving home I watch him out of the corner of my eye. He shifts the bottle in his hands. Then lifts it to his mouth. “Um, tangy,” he says. He takes another sip. By the time we return home almost half is gone. A bit of encouragement.
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On that day, my father had less than a month to live. We had always told each other that our healthy, active father would live to be a hundred. I was only beginning to understand and I was certainly not ready to accept that he would not recover.
Soon the family gathered around. We watched in alarm as he seemed to decline before our eyes. "Eat," we begged. "Drink," we pleaded. Tasty treats and grape pop filled the refrigerator. But he wouldn't; he couldn't. So we sang. We prayed. We cried. We read Scripture. “Not my will, but thine.”
And still, for many days, in the afternoon when it was time to feed the cows or someone wanted to go on a walk he would put on his coat and go outside. Suddenly he seemed much better. When he walked his step was steady. He might even pitch a few forkfuls of hay into the pickup. He would take one more walk along that familiar path.
He never did go to the nursing home. The tender care of my brother and niece (along with other family members and hospice staff) allowed him to spend his last days in his familiar home.
Today, if you walk down that path in the pasture, not much has changed. The austere browns of grass and ground contrast with skies of blue and gray. The winter wind is sometimes slight, sometimes fierce. The gentle man who once walked this path and loved this land is missed by many. But the land? The land doesn't mourn its loss. The land remains.
And still, for many days, in the afternoon when it was time to feed the cows or someone wanted to go on a walk he would put on his coat and go outside. Suddenly he seemed much better. When he walked his step was steady. He might even pitch a few forkfuls of hay into the pickup. He would take one more walk along that familiar path.
He never did go to the nursing home. The tender care of my brother and niece (along with other family members and hospice staff) allowed him to spend his last days in his familiar home.
Today, if you walk down that path in the pasture, not much has changed. The austere browns of grass and ground contrast with skies of blue and gray. The winter wind is sometimes slight, sometimes fierce. The gentle man who once walked this path and loved this land is missed by many. But the land? The land doesn't mourn its loss. The land remains.
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